Okay, let’s talk about Ronan Farrow being Frank Sinatra’s son, and about how Dylan Farrow is now talking openly about what she remembers of Woody Allen, because we’re all having such a good time with the first part, and the second part is a PRETTY BIG DEAL too.
*
There is a new Hyperbole and a Half up.
*
The Calgary Herald correctly uses “cis,” writes about trans* pregnancy stuff without being stupid.
*
In other good news, Gloria Steinem revisits her 1977 essay on trans* issues:
So now I want to be unequivocal in my words: I believe that transgender people, including those who have transitioned, are living out real, authentic lives. Those lives should be celebrated, not questioned. Their health care decisions should be theirs and theirs alone to make. And what I wrote decades ago does not reflect what we know today as we move away from only the binary boxes of “masculine” or “feminine” and begin to live along the full human continuum of identity and expression.
*
Nancy Mitford, forever relevant.
*
This Hairpin interview is incredible.
*
Looking for Dave Chappelle.
*
*
You haven’t read Macbeth until you’ve read it in Proto-Indo-European.
*
Anne Helen Petersen calls Masters of Sex a soda graveyard, which makes sense when you read it. Are you guys watching it? I love Lizzy Caplan and Michael Sheen, so I was excited but now I’m bummed out, because AHP is usually right. Let’s all take a minute to agree that the title is terrible.
*
The guy who ran Silk Road has been busted, because the dream of buying drugs online, like the dream of Rome, is fleeting and filled with waving wheat fields.
*
NBC will rue the goddamn day they let FOX steal John Mulaney.
Tags: he totally is do not fool yourself, link roundup, the internet
Nonsense. He is clearly the son of Marlon Brando. Also Annie Hall is a terrible thing what.
Proto-Indo-European, or PIE!
Not going to lie, the new Hyperbole and a Half is probably my favorite thing to happen all week.
HYPERBOLE AND A HALFFFFFF!!!! Allie’s post on her depression is truly one of my favorite things on the internet, and one of the best resources I have for explaining what my bipolar depression is like.
“You should do yoga while watching the sun rise. It is literally impossible to feel negative and sad while appreciating the wonder of the universe.”
*bewildered/distrustful stare*
I… never knew it was written by a female? How did I mess this up?
There is a new Hyperbole and a Half?! *drops everything and goes to read it*
I have 3 friends with whom I have an unspoken but sacred pact to text “NEW HYPERBOLE” the moment one of us notices a new one is up. I got to do it yesterday and I was very pleased with myself.
SOMETHING IS WRONG. SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
I need a dinosaur costume.
HOW can you go on not knowing if you are the biological offspring of Ol’ Blue Eyes?! HOW?!
Apparently Nancy Sinatra Jr. and family treat him as if he were a member of her family, so I think they know. They just don’t necessarily want US to know.
Plus those eyes. Jesus.
It’s like the time I realized Isabella Rossellini was Ingrid Bergman’s daughter. Was I blind? How did I not see that?
I know! It’s so obvious I don’t know how I went so long without knowing.
Oh he is SO Frank’s son. Blue eyes don’t lie.
I see so much of Sinatra in Ronan! The eyes, yes, but also the full lips? And the cheekbones? It’s amazing.
Those features were probably from Mia Farrow, I thought.
I just cant tell! I mean in some pictures he looks exactly like Sinatra but then it might be the shot. He does look a lot like Mia who also looked quite a bit like Frank.
Eurgh the difficulties when similar looking people breed. See: Suri Cruise
Subscriptions for ebooks? How is that different from a library?
That was my thought too . . . I’m guessing the benefit is the significantly wider selection? I use DC Public Library’s eBook rental system and am generally satisfied with it (especially since it costs $0), but their range of available titles isn’t huge, I guess. I use it for popular books that I wouldn’t otherwise buy (like Gone Girl) or classics/Important Litchrachure that I have not read yet.
. . .Though, fuck, now that I’m reading about it, I kind of really want Scribd???????? Ugh, books.
Yeah, I’m sure Scibd has a wider selection; I’m just a major proponent of libraries and a dissenter on the ebook trend. I cannot bring myself to get an ereader, though I read about a book a week. I need my hardbacks!!
I love eBooks and regular books, but I really only use my Nook for library eBooks. (Much to the delight of B&N, I’m sure). Scribd seems like a good solution for heavy users of eBooks.
So I knew a bunch of people creaming their pants over Oyster last month, and I got an invite, so I joined. BORING. Publishers don’t release their new releases to Oyster immediately, so if you wanted The Cuckoo’s Calling, it wasn’t on there, neither was The Orchardist. Libraries can buy copies of new releases on ebook before its release, so my library had dozens of copies of certain best-sellers waiting to go to their holds list on the day they were officially released. (I’m lucky that SPL is the #1 ebook-circulating system in the country, but it’s good enough to keep me from trying other ebook subscription places.)
Because Overdrive (the main app that libraries use for ebooks) isn’t available to everyone, and every library system has a different subscription. My library has a very good, but not completely inclusive plan, while my mother’s – 2 counties away – has a terrible Overdrive subscription. Just depends on what the community can/will fund.
but that trans pregnancy story – at the attempt that left her bleeding D: oh my goddddddddddddddd I am so happy for them that they got pregnant somewhere else! I really wish embryo adoption was open to non-hetero and/or non-cis couples too, it seems like it would be a perfect match.
I know, it breaks my heart that trans people have such a hard time with it. Fertility treatments are difficult enough for cis hetero people! I’m so glad it worked out for them.
I was too young in the 90’s to fully understand the whole Woody Allen story, and reading that Vanity Fair article yesterday really shook me up. I didn’t realize he had been accused of molestation. I feel awful for Dylan and the whole family; it sounds like a horrible, horrible ordeal. And I feel shitty for unknowingly continuing to support him by buying tickets to his movies all these years. Can you separate an artist’s personal life from their work when they are awful slime people? That question haunts me.
And that Dave Chappelle article is AWESOME. That writer did a great job!
That Dave Chapelle article was great! But ayahhhh the title – triggering my White Person Noooooo response.
TOTALLY! That title is definitely odd… but she does explore the topic of (ahem) *that word* in detail in the article, so I guess it’s relevant?
Oh for sure, but I googled the author and felt much more okay with it when I saw she was a black person herself. Is that weird? Like “Oh, okay, I don’t have to get mad at her for invoking it because she’s allowed and it’s not a white person talking to white people”
I only learned about the molestation charges recently. I remember hearing about him marrying Soon Yi when it happened (I was also young), but it seems like the molestation charges have been totally ignored for years. I don’t understand how men like Woody Allen, Roman Palanski, and so many others can do such awful things and still be respected in Hollywood.
Right?? At least Polanski has been banished from the US. I think Woody Allen needs to be next. They can hole up together in Zurich.
It’s an unpopular opinion, I think, but I can absolutely separate the artist from their work. I consume A LOT of art: I love movies and watch one a night before bed, I buy visual art on a regular basis, I read voraciously, I am one of the last remaining dinosaurs who buy vinyl records on the regular… and so just on a sheer volume level alone, I simply cannot read through the rap sheets of every single creator of work I consume.
Nor do I really want to or think it’s necessary. I just feel like I don’t have to like the directors of Repulsion or Annie Hall as persons in order to really, really like those films. That just seems like an offshoot of celebrity worship that doesn’t appeal to me (like it’s just the opposite of the ridiculousness of selling a celebrity’s likeability instead of their product.. It’s never: Drink Smart Water because you’re thirsty and you forgot your refillable water bottle and you think public fountains are gross. It’s: Jennifer Aniston is Just Like You! You could be her best friend! Drink Smart Water just like she does!)
The personal life of the dozens of people who went into creating those and other films that I enjoy literally do not influence my enjoyment of the films in any way. Is it a good film? Is the painting beautiful to look at? Does the song make me wanna sing out loud? These are the things that affect my enjoyment and consumption of art, not: did the artist serve his time? was the artist a creep?
The work matters more to me than its creator. If THAT is racist or misogynistic or whatever else, then I would absolutely avoid it because that doesn’t appeal to me.
Nancy Mitford is just wonderful and always relevant.
I think there was an article on The Toast about how a literary professor thinks that the only good female writer is Virginia Woolfe and in Love in a Cold Climate there is a similar professor who also thinks that the only good female writer is Virginia Woolfe! Nothing has changed! Its depressing. Its amazing.
Love in a Cold Climate is actually weirdly similar to modern life. Theres a woman doing everything to fight aging and honestly her ludicrous beauty regime could come from today.
Yes, David Gilmour. There is a Tumblr making fun of him, called chinesevirginiawoolf, that someone here posted about yesterday. 🙂
Boo and hiss to David Gilmour for being the embodiment of a characature written 100 years ago.
Can we talk a moment to just talk about the Mitfords? I’m reading The Sisters right now and I CAN’T EVEN, it is like all the best soap operas and period dramas I’ve ever wanted.
Found an online “What Mitford Sister Are You?” quiz for those who are addicted to personality quizzes: http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/aT3Hu5Q/Which-Mitford…
I got Decca, woo!
I GOT NANCY! 😀
I am similarly obsessed and poured over The Pursuit of Love trying to figure out which Radcliffe was which Mitford sister.
I got Pam. : -/
I got Pam too and I’m stoked. Because I love Pam.
I guess there is a lot to love about Pam – and I would certainly rather be a quiet farmer than a Nazi sympathizer!
She was a little bit of a Nazi sympathizer.
Really? Dammit.
I got Deborah! Does this mean I’m one step closer to becoming a Duchess?
I got Deborah, too! I don’t know anything about her, but I like the description, and I could see a bit of myself in it.
Pam is great though! Just content and pleasant to be around–totally someone to emulate!
Oh god, that guy! I know the narrator is happy enough with him, but I pretty constantly wanted to kick him in his mansplaining face.
Oh and Fabrice! And the negging! What is going on there?
They were the worst!
I spent the whole time reading thinking ‘i love this book/i hate that guy/i love this book/i hate that guy’
Oh god, I hadn’t seen the last H&H and now I am laugh-crying over shrivelled up cartoon corn.
Aw yes PIE! I can’t tell you how exciting it is to hear a guess at how it sounded.
Oh my goodness, I actually do not agree with AHP!!!! Who is the charismatic anti-hero? She doesn’t mean Masters, does she? Because he is not, not at all. And it can’t help that’s a period piece, since it’s about actual people, and that’s when the events took place, you know? Also, did she base this piece entirely off the pilot, or has she seen more episodes than we have? Because I usually find pilots do not have their footing yet, and haven’t fully decided what they’re going to be no matter what the genre or network, so I’m not sure it is a very fair criticism at this point. Not that this show is perfect or the best new show out there or anything, I just don’t think we can make that judgement yet.
Also I am very surprised the Calgary Herald wrote a good piece about trans* pregnancy.
well Calgary is being surprising lately. They elected the best mayor and he continues to be great, the times they are a-changing.
I have heard from people who saw several episodes that it starts out not-so-great but gets a lot better. I will probably keep watching it though, because I love Lizzy Caplan and Michael Sheen.
I don’t know who is the charismatic anti-hero because Virginia Johnson is the charismatic one, but William Masters is more of an anti-hero.
My iPhone’s autocorrect just tried to change “Lizzy” to “Kizzy.” 🙂
Has anyone else tried Oyster for eBooks? Thoughts. I’m not terribly impressed with some elements, but I’m trying to give it time to grow into a better product. Will be trying out Scribd, as well.
Wondering if anyone else was put off by Gloria Steinem’s tone a little bit. I was so excited at the description, assuming she was going to apologize for her original essay and say that she’d changed her perspective–instead, it seemed so defensive and like she’s only clarifying what we all misinterpreted in her original essay…
It’s definiitely flawed, but I did feel like she acknowledged she’s changed her mind, which is a rarity. We don’t need to be giving out gold stars for that, but SO MANY feminists of her generation continue to be proudly transphobic, I’m glad to see her distance herself from that.
COUNTERPOINT: I don’t really care about Gloria Steinem, and think she is kind of an elitist jag, and her apology felt minimal and “here, sorry,” but you know, good for her.
She doesn’t even REALLY say sorry–or at least, she implies that any pain that was caused was by us looking at her words out of context, and she’s sorry that THAT happened. But at least we can strike her from the list of “openly transphobic feminist icons” now .
I think she’s standing up for the original purpose of her essay, (“It asked the question: If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?”) but apologizing for the transphobic language she used to achieve that purpose. Critiquing gender as a tool of the patriarchy is not inherently transphobic.