http://elayneriggs.blogspot.com/2008/12/birthday-blogaround-...

37 days ago in Pen-Elayne on the Web · Authority: 47

Birthday Blogaround I've finally caught up on blog-reading yesterday! And today I got to work, opened my office's homepage and was treated to a cute birthday tune greeting; it's so cool being in a company that actually values its employees enough to do something like that! Even my supervisor got me a cool gift: It's over there on the left, it's this really cool stationery set, complete with writing pad, note cards/envelopes, regular size letterhead/envelopes, even a half-dozen file folders all in the same fancy decor! Way neat. And at our regular admin staff lunch she'd gotten a little cake and cookies for me, the latter of which I took back to my desk for folks to share: Now, let's see if I can finally get rid of some of these saved bookmarks: • Stuff I've missed talking about more, not being able to blog at any great length these last couple of months: Iain's birthday . The debut of the Chromium Switch blog, which now has an online archive of every single issue of Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal, the Firesign newsletter I published in the '80s and '90s. The release of Royal Mail stamps honoring six women pioneers (via Melissa Silverstein and Thomas Dolby , the latter of whom is related to two of the women). The election (I loved Tom Tomorrow's reaction and the News Writer's fairy tale ). Paul Krugman winning the Nobel Prize in economics, and the ensuing conservative meltdown. The revelation that the news item about Sarah Palin not knowing about Africa being a content was a hoax , and even the McCain Viet Cong torture meme might not be real . The debut of Change.gov . The sad passage of Prop 8; Jeff Fecke's musings about it are well worth reading, as is Leigh's pre-vote cartoon. Dori and Tom's 9th blogiversary . Patrick's Armistice Day tribute to Frank Woodruff Buckles , the last surviving veteran of American forces in WWI. Raina's good news about SMILE , and Dave's good news about Agnes Quill . Via Sheila Lennon, the Providence Journal layoffs and the plucky Brits creating a paper from scratch . A right-winger being hired for the Wall Street Journal's news section , after all the lies from Murdoch promising how that sort of thing wouldn't happen. The current economic collapse (see Theresa's compliance job post for more), the truth behind the great 401K swindle and how debt fuels the American Dream , and the religious wackos praying to Wall Street's golden calf . An attempted hoaxing of Chris Weston , who's more than onto them. Jill passing the NYS Bar Exam ; congrats! And Kevin and Carla's triumph ; congrats as well! • An Inconvenient Blog has to be Fake Al Gore, right? I mean, he says right there on the front page that he invented the internet and global warming. This totally can't be the real thing. • Everybody sing: " The first LOLcat , the bloggers did say, was a cute captioned postcard up Seattle-way..." Wow, over 100 years old. That's really something. And I really have no idea what's up with Spaghetti Cat, even though Serious Eats explains it , but I love the song: • Speaking of food, Serious Eats also brings news of a new sustainable sushi guide . And Karin reminds us how to show sushi proper respect when you don't order in like we usually do. Tonight we went out for sushi at a local place; we go out again Thursday for our anniversary, this time in Manhattan, and probably hit the conveyor belt place at Palisades Center in West Nyack (yeah, the place Augie talks about here ) on Saturday for Robin's birthday. Yeah, it's all part of Celebration Month (or, as Bryan notes , NODWISH™ Season) at the Riggs Residence! • Kerry at Serious Eats has a great observation about how the English eat, which clears up much about what confused me whilst observing my husband. And Heidi MacDonald has a great essay about English food and comics . • Which segues nicely into Val D'Orazio's wonderful review of Robin's work on Sir Apropos of Nothing . Issue #2 will be in comic stores this coming Thursday, yet another reason we'll be having a happy 10th anniversary! • A propos of comics, I'm on the 2009 Glyph Awards committee (along with Val, Ed Mathews, and two folks I don't think I know) and looking way forward to reading all the entries! • Thanks to Ann at Feministing, I now have a new band to follow ; their song "Pinocchio" is currently the only thing on my MySpace playlist. And I must check out the new MTV online video archive . Although feh, no Beatles (group or solo) stuff; YouTube still seems to be the best place for that. LindaBeth at the Reaction gives a big thumbs-down to the double standard in the new Guitar Hero ad series . And Graeme gives a good overview of the once-promising, now dead-in-the-water Batman musical from Jim Steinman. Fool us once , shame on him... • Jessica Valenti celebrates the current crop of feminist comedians , Kathy Flake notes how Obama's election has affected British comedy . and Dennis Perrin pays tribute to the Smothers Brothers . • SNL, a conflict of interest show? Say it ain't so, Jonathan Schwarz ! (Why aren't more people saying so? A little Tina Fey does not a free pass give.) • Amanda reports on someone who got his panties a little too bunched up over Stephen Colbert's hilarious Christmas special. Meanwhile, over at the Colbert Nation you can have your very own Yule Log this season! Note the title of the book that's been thrown in the fire... • Leigh suggests a smarter alternative for Twilight fans, and passes on a textbook example of warped fan-privilege mentality . • Buck up, Melissa S, you may be disappointed at Blog World Expo (and after all, where are all the women bloggers ?), but you can always go to the Girl Geek Dinner this Friday. Wonder if they'd let in someone who's clearly not a girl any more? • Hey, io9 dudes! Pass me some of that oldest pot stash in existence in those newfangled doobiebots ! • When exactly did progressive bloggers suddenly wake up and realize President-elect Obama's a centrist and has been one all along? Glenn Greenwald, you are not alone in your frustration at some people's blinders . Although Michael Stickings does have an interesting take on this . • Wow, this is important: Conservatives don't want single-payer healthcare because they know it'll work and that'll make the Democrats look good . Talk about putting partisan politics ahead of the good of the country! And I agree with Bruce Dixon (via Lambert ), if the government handled healthcare instead of for-profit corporations the US auto industry would probably not be in the dire straits in which it currently finds itself. (Don't miss Susie's simple explanation of why we need to bail out the auto industry despite the failure of those at the top.) • Bits and bobs: Mark Morford sings the praises of renters ; Robert Ellsberg remembers Studs Terkel over at HuffPo; Mama Shakes reminds us we're never too old to learn ; Chris Bertram talks about a v ery interesting documentary about Liverpool , and Will Shetterly reports on lost film footage of Edwardian London ; Amanda illustrates once again how sexism and sexual harassment hurt men too ; Kevin Moore is as disgusted as the rest of us should be at fatphobic editorial cartoons ; and Michael Bérubé, who is extremely clean , brings the snark about Democratic concern trolls ; • Lest I forget: What Digby Said, this time about " torture zombies " and the myth that America's a center-right nation . Lastly, thanks to Budgie for the wonderful and unexpected birthday greeting on the phone! I wish we'd been home to get it. And that's it, all my bookmarks are used up, and I can begin anew in the 51st year of my life!

• Photo of crowth

  Femedians (Jessica Valenti on the rise of feminist comics) | The Guardian

  http://crowth.net/post/60686769
  49 days ago in crowth.net : whatever this is at least it's not twitter · Authority: 8

  Femedians (Jessica Valenti on the rise of feminist comics) | The Guardian: (me on) notcockdotcockdotcom: This article starts with a YouTube video of Sarah Haskins pulling apart female stereotypes in the media. This is the first time I’ve come across her. She’s brilliant. Bang ‘target women’ into YouTube and let the laughter commence. After spending about an hour on YouTube, I eventually read the article itself. It’s all interesting and everything, valid points are made and it has brought my attention to a few female comics I wasn’t aware of. But the feminism that underpins the article is maddeningly simplistic and smacks of just the same kind of sexism that women have faught against since forever. At the root of this culture seems to be the fact that, as Joan Rivers once noted, “men find funny women threatening” - any woman who wields her wit is refusing to be put in her place. Simply by being a female comedian, then, a woman is challenging existing power structures; by adding feminism into the mix, they are confronting the culture on a whole new level. There certainly was, and to a degree may still be, an element of this. Perhaps more so in the US than the UK (though they do seem to be leading the way now). But, on the whole, I’m going to have to call bullshit on it. Women were never unfunny because men found them threatening, they just weren’t funny. Joan Rivers has been doing what she does for at least 200 years now and the reason she made it in the first place was because she’s threatening. The best comedy pushes boundaries and she was one of the first women prepared to do that. Now that a piss-funny plethora of provocative and yes, feminist, comedians are finally taking centre stage, women and men alike are laughing their tits and balls clean the fuck right off. The only question is, what took these women so long? The stereotypes Sarah Haskins targets give us a clue. Who’s buying these products? Who’s watching these films? Who’s perpetuating these stereotypes? Feminist comedians aren’t redefining male definitions of femininity, they’re redefining female definitions of femininity. I for one say it’s about fucking time. And my cock thinks so too.

  • Author unknown

    Feminist comedians: Jessica Valenti loves them

    http://www.spinsterzine.com/?p=184
    50 days ago in Spinster: It’s an attitude · Authority: 3

    Jessica Valenti of Feministing has a great column on the Guardian website about feminist comedians. Check it out.

    • Author unknown

      Funny Feminists

      http://mmepiggy.blogspot.com/2008/11/from-guardian.html
      50 days ago in Food Devotions and Kermit Love · Authority: 5

      From the Guardian .

      • Photo of jessicavalenti

        Quick Hit: I heart funny feminists

        http://www.feministing.com/archives/012286.html
        50 days ago in Feministing: Main · Authority: 1,766

        I have a piece up at The Guardian that takes a look at some of the fab feminist comedians out there and how they're debunking the whole "women aren't funny" myth. So who is your favorite funny feminist?

        • Author unknown

          UnaRocks articles of the day

          http://unarocks.blogspot.com/2008/11/unarocks-articles-of-da...
          50 days ago in UnaRocks · Authority: 88

          Sony cock up an almost certain #1 for Leona Lewis - NME Why is Obama obsessed with reforming college football? - Slate Some female comedians are feminists, shocker: the mainsteam media picks up on Sarah Haskins - The Guardian Remembering Harvey Milk - Advocate The race to dress Michelle Obama - New York Magazine Why aren't there any good hoaxes anymore? - Gawker Obama's FCC transition team mad into World of Warcraft - GigaOM 'Where The Wild Things Are' film mightn't be that bad - Wired Transvestism 'no longer a disease' in Sweden - The Local Douchebag says he's not a douchebag - The Smoking Gun Gaelick has a "DANA WAS GAY" funeral moment - Gaelick Quality of YouTube submissions questioned (via Cybercom)