The Merry-Go-Round

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2962

which I LOVE:

7) Because she’s a woman.

Yeah, I said that, too. And I think “because he’s a person of color” is a perfectly fine reason to vote for Obama, for the record. As I said in my bad reasons post, I don’t believe any woman would be better than any man—or any person of color would be better than any white person, for that matter. Condoleezza Rice is the simple answer to both of those assertions. But if this election has taught us anything, it’s that we are nowhere fucking near a post-feminist or post-racial society. The symbolic value of seeing someone other than a white man in the most powerful position in the country—and, arguably the world—would be tremendous.

Look at it this way. I’m 33. As far back as I can remember, I heard from my parents, my teachers, and even certain media outlets that girls can grow up to be anything they want to be, including president. That women deserve powerful, high-paying careers just as much as men. That there are no intrinsic differences between men and women in terms of intelligence or professional competence.

Problem is, as they say in creative writing classes, it’s much more powerful to show than to tell. People have told me that shit all my life, but I sure haven’t seen it. Women still make less than men, there are way fewer women CEOs, and way fewer women politicians. Women are still demonized as bad mothers if they prioritize their careers as highly as fathers do, and as bad people if they prioritize their careers over having children in the first place. A woman runs for president, and she’s rewarded with assholes screaming “Iron my shirt!”*, internet communities dedicated to telling her to get back in the kitchen, and pundits openly fearing for their testicles if she’s elected. This? Does not match up with what little girls are told about women’s potential in our wonderfully enlightened, “post-feminist” society. Which makes one suspect, strangely enough, that all that Free to Be You and Me stuff was a total crock.

So hell yes, when there’s a strong female candidate in the race, wanting to see a female president is a good reason to vote for her.

*Seriously, if someone comes in here and says, “That was a radio stunt!” I’m gonna scream. A) We know, and B) that actually makes it worse, not better, seeing as how it was arranged by media professionals who believed their whole audience would find it high-larious, not just a couple of random fucking bozos.

 The whole post can be read here: 

really really really really cool. and i agree with this guys choices, mostly. I think i would include title sequences by danny elfman for spiderman (I) and any of saul bass’ stuff for hitchcock or preminger.

“So the next time you come upon an abandoned treehouse site, you might give some thought to the fact that you’re standing in the ruins of someone’s childhood. The children who used the site no longer exist: they’re grownups now, living somewhere else, disposing more rationally of their belongings.”

 
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/19/treehouse-ruins-the.html

…I wonder if mine and my brother’s treehouse is still out there behind my parent’s house in the ‘turtle trees.’ We built it ourselves out of my dad’s abadoned 2X4s and our own nails from Bayer Hardware (r.i.p.) after being forced to move camp from the state park across the street. A park ranger stopped by the house one summer day to tell us to pull down our ‘deer stand’ across the street. My mom did explain that it was a tree house. We had built it close to the road over a gully that was perpetually carpeted with fallen,  brown oak leaves.  

 George Romero is at it again.

 

Night of the Living Dead (1968) 

Dawn of the Dead (1978) 

Day of the Dead (1985)

… Diary of the Dead (2008)

George Romero’s Dead series presents one of the most astute social satires ever to come from Walking Dead. And This article from Inside Higher Ed is pretty cool, as evidenced by the following:

“I think zombie movies want to portray the state of zombification as a monstrous perversion of the idea of Christian resurrection.”

Diary of the Dead carries the series into Century 21. And, surprise! There’s to be a sequel. 

Space is on the verge of becoming an adventure again, Windows Vista is flopping, and Mario Kart will be out for the Wii soon. I think the future will be okay.

- the conclusion for a post endorsing Barack Obama, from webcomic xkcd

“And therefore as a stranger give it welcome,” says Hamlet. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

The Library of Congress is posting to flickr! The first couple of slides focus on WW II American women riveters, which is pretty fascinating to see. Not to mention the rural scenes of the 1940s:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/

And while this has nothing to do with the Library of Congress, its still totally fascinating. Oh how I wish I were skiing in the Colorado Rockies RIGHT NOW where its sunny and 2 below!

“While various components of my phone-guy day-job were conspiring to keep me off the mountain today (being just minutes away from the freshies and not getting to rip ‘em, rather than being in another state reading about it makes missing out worse), the rest of Crested Butte enjoyed some of the best skiing this mountain has provided in recent, and maybe even distant, memory. I kept hearing things like, “Monday was great, but Tuesday was freakin’ AMAZING!” Some people try and be polite and hold the gushing back while others just hammer you with it. Ah well, every dog has his or her day. I guess the good thing about the steeps taking a little time to get open is that if you miss the rope drop for one part of the mountain, you have a chance to get out on another part of the mountain when the rope drops there in the following day or two. My turn will come again soon, as could yours …”

                                          - Guy who took the photo posted below:

Snow-laden Crested Butte, CO.

I like how this is said:

“I do not regard the New Testament as a historical or supernatural document. I do, however, regard it as one of the most compelling articulations of an integral worldview that the West has produced, and I am dismayed that you would be so untroubled by its calls for living with integrity.”