election didn’t go great (no link provided, you know what happened)
Choire Sicha’s old post about The Last Photograph of Cat drifted across Twitter via Emily Gould yesterday, and I have not forgiven her:
In the East Village, Cat lived comfortably for some time with another fine cat, who took ill fairly early in life and then died prematurely. While she was slowly dying, Cat showed no visible mercy or concern and would steal food intended for her. As well he rarely liked any other cats and despite his fairly warm if dignified behavior with all people (though of course he had a very few people that he understood well and to whom he was devoted), the very existence of other cats sometimes sent him into a rage.
Yes, I heard the news about the engagement. I am glad he took my advice about creating a life for himself that wasn’t just waiting for me to become free. These things are hard, but I know he will do his very best to be a good husband to her, like when Seth Bullock married Anna Gunn on Deadwood even though his heart could never truly be hers. I have returned his letters. May their union be a fruitful one.
On an utterly unrelated note, my Zen teacher is coming to me this morning, almost as though I might find driving to her home challenging and overwhelming today! How funny. How droll.
My dad, the serial killer:
After we set off, my brother opened the glove compartment and found a pack of cigarettes. He was really shocked because smoking was a big no-no for my dad – that had always been something he wanted to instil in us. And he said, “Oh those are for my friends, for women that I pick up.” My brother pulled a face like he didn’t really believe him, as if to say: “Dad, are you hiding something from us? Maybe you’re a closet smoker.”
As we were turning the corner by my high school, a big roll of duct tape rolled out of the sleeping compartment, which struck me as pretty strange too. I thought, “Why does my dad have duct tape by his pillow?” But I kind of brushed it off, thinking, “Well, everything’s probably in weird places because there’s not a lot of space in here.”
Lindy West on being a fat bride:
There are long, manic messageboard threads devoted to comparing photos of me with photos of my fiance’s thin, conventionally pretty ex-wife, and dissecting what personality disorder could possibly have caused him to downgrade so egregiously (two conclusions are possible here: I have pissed off a lot of misogynists, and misogynists are the most bored people on the planet). I can’t tell you how many women hit on him right in front of me – and how many late-night Facebook messages he gets – as though they could just “have” him and he would say, “Oh, thank God you finally showed up,” and some dire cosmic imbalance would be corrected. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that they “match”. They can talk about hot-people problems together – like “too many clothing options” and “haters”. I wouldn’t understand.
On the legacy of “Clarissa Explains It All”:
I’m always interested in people who are better than the game. Muhammad Ali was better at boxing at one point. John McEnroe was better than tennis at one point. There are these people in the culture who, every once in a while, get better and stronger than the culture itself. My idea was to create a 14-year-old girl who was in this pocket of awareness about her life and was better than the game of being a tweenager.
I texted my mother the same question. “How often do you feel like a woman of color?” She wasn’t sure what I meant.
“Like, am I discriminated against?”
“Maybe. Or just: how often are you aware of being Latina/not-white?”
In retrospect, I’m a little self-conscious about the way I phrased the question. Of course she is aware that she is Peruvian, even if, at some point in her life — probably years ago, now — she went from thinking in Spanish to thinking in English. That doesn’t make her any less Peruvian. And every morning, she has to yell at my all-but-deaf grandfather who lives with us:Quieres pan? Dormiste bien? No olivides las pastillas!
I guess what I meant was: How often do people remind her that she’s Latina? How often is she reminded that she is different?
Nick came to visit me and I dragged him to the gym and pounded him into the ground like a tent peg and it felt awesome but also he’s lovely.
The 21 best Def Jam releases of all time.
okay, this one DEF talked to Mallory:
This fucking Richard Brittain guy needs to be locked up.
I am protesting the sads of post-election day with the comfiest clothes I can wear to work. Leggings-as-pants haters, I have no room for you today.
I went with a “yoga skirt.” :D/D:
Well, leggings really aren’t pants, IMO, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t appropriate as a stand-alone garment. I also turned to fashion as a comfort in my blog post today. Here is a fistbump of sympathetic solidarity.
ME TOO. Giant cozy sweater, dark lipstick and let’s-all-pretend-these-are-work-appropriate-jeggings.
Comfy jeans, warm cardigan, and Gaming’s Feminist Illuminati shirt for an extra “Fuck you patriarchy.”
Leggings are wonderful wonderful things.
I am not a hater, but confused: aren’t leggings more uncomfortable than other trousers, because they’re so tight? (Note: I have not worn leggings in about fifteen years, since I was a child, so I may be completely wrong about how they work.)
It might depend on your body shape and whether you have trouble finding trousers/leggings that fit. Leggings are tight but very stretchy, so I find I have a greater range of motion and the waistband digs into my stomach less–so that’s more comfortable for me. This winter I’ve actually decided to stop wearing trousers entirely (or at least, as much as possible) because I find them that much less comfortable.
^^–yep, this. They’re so stretchy and lovely. It’s really tough for me to find jeans/trousers that fit well (thanks, No Waist Genetics) so leggings are 99.99999% of the time the most comfortable thing I can wear.
Maryland…my beautiful, goddamn wonderful, Maryland…what in fucking hell did you just do? What the fuck did you do??
It sucks. What did we dooooo
Both my resident state (MD) and my home state (MA) have let me down significantly.
My home state is MD and resident is MA, and I feel the same. Uuuuugh.
Don’t worry about MA, MA is fine. We still have our D-MA crew going to Washington to fight the Crazy Tide, and Baker is Yet Another Moderate Republican Governor. A RINO even, the Crazy Tide might say.
WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK JESUS CHRIST ON A POGO STICK. Is how I feel about that.
Agree. Also, I’m just so glad that I voted because if i didn’t and we had the same result, I would have a lot of guilt right now, in addition to rage.
I woke up this morning and thought I was still dreaming. But alas, it was not a nightmare.
whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
OMG I kept watching the returns last night thinking, it’s going to be okay, they probably haven’t counted [this really blue county] yet…and then I finally went to sleep because I was sick/coughing/exhausted. Then I woke up in a state with a governor who has an A-minus rating from the NRA. *shakes fist* MARYLANNNNNNND
Yeah, that [really blue county] is likely my county, or the one next to it, and I kept hoping the same thing. Maybe he gets nothing done, and we do some house-cleaning? I’m hoping that this puts us in check and it NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
I KNOWWWW. I was so hopeful, but then again, I vote in a very liberal county. :-/
Massachusetts, I came here because you’re supposed to be a liberal paradise! But aside from Prop 4 (which is no small thing – YAY sick time for all!) and the senate race, I am sorely disappointed.
This happens a lot. We have a long history of electing Republican governors.
I’m annoyed about the gas tax thing.
Yes, ugh. All 4 referenda basically followed the money. It was disheartening. (But the sick leave is good.)
It’s interesting – as if some tiny part of our brains says, but not TOO far now, and we elect a Republican governor and the rest of the ticket straight Dem.
Of course, that used to work out okay because MA Republicans were Democrats-lite. Baker looks moderate on paper but we’ll see. Maybe we’ll finally learn a lesson?
Well, also, a damp log probably could have run on the dem ticket and done about as well as Coakley. MA democrats have a long, inglorious history of running their worst politicians for Gov.
Yeah, that’s also true. If only every candidate had the sharpness and warmth of Elizabeth Warren!
Also, there’s just something about putting someone on the ticket who already lost once – it’s like people double down. Once you’ve lost, maybe it’s better to go do something else and let someone else take a shot at it. I can’t imagine that Martha Coakley was our only viable gubernatorial candidate but well, here we are. :/
Don’t forget Maura Healey! Some good news. I am a little comforted that my home state of NH gave Scott Brown the boot (although just barely) and that Rep. Annie Kuster beat that loon Marilinda Garcia. My one-time congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter lost her race, though, so I am mourning the end of New Hampshire’s all-lady government.
Yeah, Maura Healey is a silver lining! I hope she runs for governor or other high office – she seems like a good candidate with a bright future.
I woke up in the middle of the night and checked election results, and it seemed like there was some question about the Brown race maybe having been called too early, which made me wince. I’m glad it looks now like he’s down. The existence of his campaign was a cynical joke – and yet he didn’t get flattened the way he should have, which says something about how fired-up the conservatives were, blah.
So relieved about Jeanne Shaheen winning. Maybe Brown will buy a house in Newport and try Rhode Island next. *eye roll*
Don’t you curse my people! Send him to CT, it’s where he belongs.
I spoke with a journalist friend from MA today and he said that MA gubernatorial Dem candidates always suck, because Democrats in MA know that since they’ll always win in the senate and house, the good ones always go for those races instead. Makes sense. I’m comforted by the fact that Charlie Baker will probably get fuck-all done with the rest of state government opposed to him.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Baker sounds like he’s fairly liberal on social stuff (for a Republican), so he’ll probably just whine about taxes for a few years and not actually do anything.
I hope so: I had breakfast with some friends who work in state government last week and they said that everyone is really worried about their budgets being slashed in a Baker regime. :\
Christina I read your piece when you shared it a few days ago and it was so so so so so good, seriously.
It is because of Clarissa Explains It All that I have decorated my living room with license plates. My dad just sold his two motorcycles and I’m planning on stealing his plates to add to my collection, too. :3
Elections…ughhhhh. At least we still have Cory Booker. Good job on that, Jersey.
God, Clarissa Darling was such a formative character for me. SO GREAT.
Her see-through phone remains one of the aspirational possessions I shall probably never have (also on the list: iridescent Doc Marten combat boots from the Delia’s catalog circa 2000).
Cumberbatch is engaged, why is the internet still functioning
Good question. I think I managed to ruffle PC’s feathers this morning when he stumbled out of bed and that was the first thing I said to him.
Also I kind of adore that he announced it in the Times of London, super old-school style, which is just. so. fitting.
But only barely.
that gif really needs to come with some kind of disclaimer or warning or just “hey, you, you’re about to exhale sharply and have to look around to make sure no one heard you.”
there has been a distinct slow down on the BC tumblrs that I follow.
maybe they all have rightfully taken to the sea
I have just looked her up and she did the same degree as me at the same place, and we’re the same age so either in my year or the year below me. I feel like I ought to know her!
In Florida, my fetid swamp of a state, our governor, Voldemort/Rick Scott, won by 1%, and medical marijuana lost by only 2% because we needed a damned super majority.
I’m very bitter today. But at least our amendment on conservation won by a landslide, which is super great for our state, so I’m trying to focus on that.
come to DC! We have marijuana for everyone now, assuming Congress lets us enact our own laws.
Ugh which state elects an honest to dog crook for governor not once, but twice? FLORIDA.
And the medical marijuana thing made me so angry.
And all the crappy county amendments that were backed by the Chamber passed.
Amendment 1 is the only silver lining in all of this. Don’t even get me started on Pam Bondi.
Hey, Amendment 3 failed, which is also a plus (to me)! When I heard about it on Florida Radio’s Capitol Report a few months ago, when they were presenting arguments for an against, I could only think that it was perhaps nicely intended, but would be a clusterfuck in action. But also it seems like it was only brought up on the off chance Crist won, just like the way the minority party always wants to get US Senate filibuster rules changed.
I know for a lot of people, though, it seemed pointless to vote, because they didn’t want to endorse either major candidate. I figured that I can trust Scott to work against my interests 98% of the time, and who knows what Crist will do, maybe actually some positive now that he’s aligned himself with the Dems? but it felt like voting for a choice between arsenic and lead for powdering my doughnuts.
wooo conservation amendment!
At least Colorado struck down the Personhood amendment?
Is Hickenlooper going to be reelected? I vote in Colorado but live abroad, and mostly my info from my parents is “all the bad people are going to be elected” (this means all the Republicans). I could look this up but the thought of looking up election results depresses me.
Looks like. Which is good, I really like him.
I don’t actually live in CO anymore, but most of my Facebook friends still do, so I manage to hear about their results before my own (VA)
That’s good! I like him too. My mom just sent me a text message saying she was watching that movie about Anna Paquin with the geese I used to like instead of looking at smug Republicans.
and at least Illinois voted for mandatory coverage of birth control?
I was grateful to see that. Illinois actually did OK in that regard. Bruce Rauner’s just such a shimmering mass of fucking grotesque.
I feel good about this! Now that personhood has been voted down three elections in a row, can we stop putting it on the ballot, Colorado?? Sheesh.
I think things are looking pretty good for Hick this morning, too, which is nice. I’m telling myself that Congress doesn’t get anything done anyway, so who cares about Gardner.
I can’t believe Udall lost. I don’t know if I should feel this sad about it, but I do. I’m glad Hickenlooper looks like he’s going to win.
I feel like this is at least kind of relevant after Mallory’s recent sighting of a deformed pigeon – I SAW A DETACHED PIGEON HEAD ON THE WAY TO WORK TODAY. Where was the rest of the pigeon? I do not know, as there was no immediate sign of it. Just a completely detached head. Thinking of starting a support group or something.
Perhaps the pigeon mom had an unassisted hatch – the head hatched out but no body followed!
Oh man, I wish that pigeon had gotten a proper midwife like a RESPONSIBLE pigeon…
^ Comment winner of the day
In Brooklyn yesterday, RIGHT near my old apartment, there were two goats’ heads slung over a telephone wire like tennis shoes.
GOATS’ HEADS
WHAT. That is like some dark-sided Godfather shit. On the one hand I have a lot of follow-up questions, but on the other hand I don’t want to know…
Yeah…Prospect Park has been the site of some previous goat dismemberment. NO IDEA DON’T WANT TO KNOW JUST STOP IT.
Santeria? I know it happens from time to time elsewhere in the city as well, and considering Prospect Park isn’t too far from some heavily Carribean neighborhoods, it might make sense.
I found a totally detached pigeon wing on the sidewalk on Monday and I was waiting for an opportunity to mention it here… The Toast has really opened my eyes to the issue of piecemeal pigeon parts in America.
I actually live in Canada, so this may be a North American epidemic! Pigeon pieces are all around us and it’s super, super gross.
A few months ago I saw a PAIR of detached pigeon wings lying on the rooftop that my apartment’s windows overlook. Like, still attached to each other, but no pigeon and no gore. Of course I took a picture.
Oh my god! I feel like there is a wingless pigeon out there, waddling around, barely avoiding traffic. What a nightmare.
A complete pigeon is just a temporary, chance agglomeration of free-roaming pigeon parts
At least the guy I voted for for mayor won. (He was running unopposed. But still. It’s all I’ve got.)
So, I grew up assuming that I would never get married (unless I found my own John Goodman – swoon), because marriage was for thin women, the kind of women who deserved to be collected
Chillllllls, chills up my neck. This reminds me of the question of “what are good girls good for?” Go, Lindy!
I started following CBC Ottawa on Twitter a few days ago and I’m already regretting my decision. I want to be aware of what’s going on in the city but of course it’s 98% bad news and it’s just feeding into my anxiety. A woman drove her car into the river! Car crashes all over the goddamn place! Someone died after being hit by a bus AND a car! A student was assaulted by 2 men who tried to throw him off a bridge!
I’m suspicious enough of strange men as it is without having to worry that they might grab me and try to throw me off the damn bridge, what the hell.
AND the CBC does this thing where they dump literally all of their news stories in at once, which is overwhelming. Like if I wanted to read ALL THE NEWS – NOW, NOW, NOW! I would go to your website! What I want is to digest is slowly, in between picture of animals, misandrist gags, and whatever Margaret Atwood is interested in today.
The Ottawa Citizen’s weather forecast tweets are pretty cute, though. Today’s reads: “Today’s weather is very Wednesday. Expect it to be not great, but also not terrible.” Fair enough!
That sounds like what I would say if I were a meteorologist. “Today we will have some weather. It will probably be chilly out because it’s November. There might be wind at some point. It will get dark.”
I would subscribe to your meteorological newsletter.
This is why I stopped listening to CBC news. It suffers from a bad case of undiagnosed anxiety and depression and sees only bleakness everywhere. Not something I need reinforced in my own head.
YES okay I thought it was just me but the news in Ottawa the past couple weeks has really been much more terrifying/mortality-filled than usual. And CBC does NOT run enough heartwarming human interest stories to make up for it.
I WISH I DIDN’T KNOW ALL THIS. (My sister still lives there.)
Someone once got shot right outside my apartment entrance, and someone also got stabbed on the bus at the stop right outside my building and yet I am somehow more alarmed by all of this other news even though I don’t even live there anymore.
That piece by Lindy West is soooo good you guys.
I’m about to start reading the dad serial killer piece. I’ve cried at my desk every day this week so far, might as well go for the hat trick.
UGH IT’S SO HORRIFYING. So so so so so creepy and awful. And reminds me of nothing so much as the Stephen King story “A Good Marriage.”
Yeah it’s been a banner week for desk crying. Off I go for round 8,000,000!
Out of three races here in Gerrymander Central, the 7th Congressional District of PA, the Dems won two, including my own local state rep (who I adore). Suck it, Harrisburg.
And we got rid of Corbett! PA didn’t do so bad.
Yes! I knew that was basically a done deal, but still, such a relief!
Maybe now the Philadelphia school system has a chance to stop quickly circling the drain (hey, a girl can pray).
I wish my district’d booted Rothus, and I’m worried Wolf won’t accomplish anything with the Repub legislature, but at least Corbett’s fucking done.
Not having to hear his whiny voice anymore will significantly reduce my blood pressure.
I am also in the gerrymandered 7th, and I always feel obligated to post this picture just in case anyone doubts how comletely fucking ludicrous it is.
RIGHT?! I posted a version on twitter last night. It’s fucking RIDICULOUS. (Also, 7th buddy! *fistbump* Where are you? I’m in Havertown.)
Just outside of Conshohocken. I grew up in Norristown, though — conspicuously NOT in the 7th District, since that’d yield too many “urban” people voting together, I think.
Hey, I’m in Conshy! Blessed Allyson Schwartz is my rep, though. Viva 13!
Yeah, 7 has got Meehan, who is some GOP shill / nonentity who no one ever hears about until it’s election time and he starts touting how faithfully he voted the party line.
Also, uh, did no one else vote for me as a write-in candidate for (my home county’s) sheriff?? Just me? Jesus, guys, can’t we do anything right???
That my dad is a serial killer article is fascinating and terrifying. We never really know the people we love, do we? And it quite rightly put the focus on his victims, of which his daughter was one.
I really liked the focus of the story, how she directed the spotlight away from herself, even though it was her dad, and said that the victims really deserve to be heard, and how she has tried to reconcile these conflicting notions about who her father was. It was a chilling story but a very good story.
I thought long and hard about her conclusion that learning about him wanting to kill her and her siblings made her free. And I’m glad I did, because I think I can start to understand that. I’m happy for her, and I’m happy that she has chosen unequivocally to side with the victims’ families rather than trying to moderate some “he’s a monster but he’s my dad-monster!” thing.
I had to stop reading the Richard Brittain story because I started to feel anxious, and kind of panicky, as if men everywhere were stalking me.
Someone, please bash HIM over the head with a wine bottle, please.
Textbook case of silencing a woman’s voice, right there.
“I have pissed off a lot of misogynists, and misogynists are the most bored people on the planet” I KNOW, RIGHT? Why do none of them have any fucking hobbies?
Misogyny IS their hobby.
As Gamer Gate has shown us, their hobbies are merely extensions of their misogyny.
Actually, their hobby is ethics in game journalism
In PA we managed to get rid of Tom Corbett, which was a relief, but it’d be better if somehow the people of my state could remember that when you give Republicans power all they do is make a bunch of policies that will help their friends get richer.
Like, even if you are a racist bigot or something, for the most part these guys don’t care, they just nod about your concerns about ebola and illegals and make a big stink in congress so that you’ll vote for them and then they can make a bunch of policies that help their friends get richer.
this is what really kills me. yes, nothing got done over the past few years, but a lot of that nothing would have made the lives of a broad swath of the population moderately better. it was a genuine lack of progress, rather than just ineffective governance.
and now i feel like there where be a flurry of legislation, but it will be, if not actively detrimental to the people who need it most, than at least utterly unconcerned as to their wellbeing. and this is not a small percentage of the population.
and in that sense, i’m just so sad that the stalling and lack of progress earlier will turn out to have been better than the backslide the pessimist in me sees as the only outcome of this election.
the states that benefited most from the ACA all elected Republicans
guuuyyyyyssssss
I live in Kentucky, a state that has SUPER SUCCESSFULLY, no joke, taken advantage of the ACA and run with it and it has been undeniably good here.
Yesterday evening I heard a woman on the radio talking about how she was glad Mitch McConnell got reelected because now he can do more good for us here in Kentucky and get to work tackling our real problems like Obamacare.
At that point I yelled and turned off the radio. Not a good night here.
I shudder to think of the state of the Philadelphia School District four years from now.
Woahhhh that serial killer dad piece was amazing. I’m binge-hate-watching Criminal Minds right now and that was definitely an antidote to the oversimple plots and terrible characterizations of that show.
Curious about the hate-watching? I watch it because it’s so formulaic I find it soothing and hard to actively hate.
I mean, I don’t hate it like I hate Two and a Half Men, or anything. I have a deep and abiding love for mysterys and crime shows. And I mostly like the characters, it’s just…. ::deep breath::
The plots are ridiculous beyond belief, which wouldn’t be so bad if the writing were better (I love Psych, for example), and the overarching plot themes are totally a crapshoot. Reid’s mystery headaches that featured prominently for like three episodes in a row were ignored for a half a season and then picked up again later to be dismissed as migraines? Why the scary voodoo guy then? IT feels like the writers sort of forgot about them and then were like “oh yeah we should wrap that up at some point.”
Some of the characterization makes me nuts too. Eyebrows and Garcia’s relationship — I *get* what they are trying to do, but I find it incredibly gross that we’re basically told that Garcia is so gross and fat and quirky that the only way anyone traditionally attractive would love her is in this gross, condescending, platonic way. GROSS. Reid, while entirely adorable, is a computer whiz one episode and in another he says he “doesn’t even have email” which also — what? The rotating cast of brunettes is given zero characterization at all until it’s time for them to leave the show.
And I know that to make it a compelling show, they need to show the agents doing pretty unrealistic things (the behavioral analysis unit is almost certainly not going to be people raiding suspect’s homes, shooting bad guys, etc.) but at times it really stretches credibility, such as when they sent in an untrained technical analyst to interrogate a MINOR with no parent present.
Oops, hit post too soon! Anyway, those are my main issues with it. I find it hard to enjoy it unequivocally and prefer instead to snark on it with my partner and friends.
Totally get what you’re saying. Criminal Minds reminds me a BIT of a cartoon show where any character development is basically erased from episode to episode. It’s also a criminal waste of Joe Mantegna.
Yeah that’s a good analogy! Also Joe Mantegna absolutely — although it is enjoyable watching him chew that scenery. Also — I think Matthew Gray Gubler should just come hang out with me. Not in a hot tub necessarily. But not NOT in a hot tub.
In which case I can highly recommend MGG in Suburban Gothic. Both he and Kat Dennings are darling. And Ray Wise is there for all your scenery chewing needs.
MGG AND Kat Dennings? ::fans self::
Don’t forget how they valued their women characters so little that they got rid of all of them but Garcia, and it was only fan outrage that brought back AJ and Prentiss.
I don’t have that much knowledge of the workings of the show but that does NOT surprise me at all.
Also can we talk about how much of a caricature bitch Strauss is? Who nonetheless gets all freaked out by dead bodies and can’t handle being “in the field”? UGH YOUR MISOGYNY I CAN SEE IT IT’S TOTALLY SHOWING.
It was a few years ago, but just so appalling–like really dudes, you think leaving only one woman regular on a show about serial killers who almost always target women is a good idea? I watch it occasionally, but I can’t handle too much of it. Mandy Patinkin said (which only makes me love him all the more), that the biggest public mistake he ever made was joining Criminal Minds, and he thought the show was going to go somewhere different, but the non-stop violence against women on it made him so sick he had to leave.
I remember that Mandy Patinkin thing happening, that was really great. I feel like the maybe first one or two seasons weren’t *as* lady-murdering, for sure. One of the things I do like about it is even with the lady-murdering, they usually make the effort to avoid slut shaming and victim blaming and go out of their way to show that, say, the homeless or sex workers deserve respect and police protection.
No, it really did seem as if the first few seasons tried to give the victims as much agency as possible and minimize gross titillating scenes. Then they just seemed to…not do that any more.
As a huge Criminal Minds nerd for about three years before it all went to hell – they started shedding writers around season three when the writer’s strike hit, and lost all but one of the original crew of writers as of early season five. I bailed after they finally resolved Emily’s plotline (Emily! My one true love!) in the end of season seven, when it was clear the show had jumped so many sharks that Sea World was going to sue.
(I actually really like the first four seasons, I think they’re solid procedural stories with a fairly good deconstruction of stereotypical serial killer narratives, as much as you can do that while still telling stories about, y’know, serial killers. But I totally get why Mandy Patinkin quit when he did, and it was always walking a very fine line that sooner or later was bound to disappear.)
Reminds me of the first season of Hannibal with the daughter of the serial killer.
Guardian comments are precious things. Like the following “So why does the Guardian have to come clumping along with some witless political agenda and try to spoil it all? So what if It’s written by women and attracts a large female following? Toast is no more “feminist” than the Daily Mash or News Thump. It’s just quirkier and, on its day, funnier.”
As if feminism and funny are mutually exclusive concepts.
Apparently he missed the Misandrist Lullabies.
This is COMPLETELY not the right place to put this (I’m sorry!!!) but…
Dear Chicago, I have an extra ticket to two CHF shortlist events – Mark Bittman’s thing tomorrow night AND the Modern Love panel/cocktail hour on Sunday. Does anyone want either? email me at funfunfetti at gmail !
http://chicagohumanities.org/events/2014/journeys… http://chicagohumanities.org/events/2014/journeys…
ok now back to reading the articles
Also, I agree with Lindy, I think misogynists are probably the most bored people in the entire world.
Ugh, that Richard Brittain assault is WAY too close to the way a friend of mine was murdered. I hope he’s locked up and then watched closely by law enforcement for the rest of his life, because he sounds like an awful human.
Off topic, but I got a fantastic ‘M is for Misandry’ card from aeirlys, which I’ll be framing as soon as I find something worthy of it.
Sidenote: Americans, your ‘forever stamps’ are creepy as fuck. And that’s speaking as someone who owns a lot of Soviet memorabilia.
hahaha. well, I’m not sure if I’m telling you something you already know, but they are called “forever” because you pay the current price of postage for them, and then even if/when postage prices go up, you can still use them. So if you bought them at 46 cents and postage goes up to 48 cents, you can still use your “forever” stamps.
Oh, I know that, it’s just the ‘Forever USA’ and the ‘flaag, flaaaaaaag, look at the flag, here’s some more flag’ imagery that kind of… brings back memories.
I had never much thought about it, but now I’m looking at one and you’re so right. The flag is very in your face, too.
They come in all sorts of designs, not all flags! Flowers, famous dead people, race cars, quilts, bats, all kinds of things.
In Israel, I realized last week, the stamps that match the percise postage to the US just happen to have a Birthright design. Smooth move, post people.
When I started buying my forever stamps from the postage machine instead of in sheets from the person at the desk, I started getting ones with Spiderman on them. Is that more or less creepy than flags?
(No, I don’t know why Spiderman, but I’m guessing movie producers wrote a nice big check for the USPS to have that as the only option for printed-out stamps at my local post office.)
Are they creepy? I like them because you can buy them now and use them ~forever~ aka game the postal system by avoiding higher stamp costs.
I also got an ‘M is for Misandry” card and it is now prominently displayed on my fridge!! Hooray aeirlys!
Those flag forever stamps make me rage.
I’m always like “Equality Forever” as long as you’re straight, “Justice forever” as long as you’re white, “Liberty forever” as long as you’re a cis man, “Freedom forever” as long as you don’t try to actually exercise it.
I once had to buy those stamps (they were the only ones available at the post office) and for the year and a half I was using them I just felt like an asshole.
Now I have Harry Potter and Civil Rights March stamps and feel much better about myself.
Mine have Harry Potter, Batman, flowers, O. Henry and birds! #notallforeverstamps
I have landscapes and farmers markets and gingerbread houses right now (and a few left over american scientists and flowers and cherry blossom ones). But I’m the person that will actually pay the $2 in shipping so I can just buy pretty stamps online and not have flags or liberty bells.
Oooh where do you buy them? I want to be picky about my stamps, but not while there’s a line of people standing behind me at the post office.
USPS.com! It feels a little silly paying for shipping for stamps, but I order a bunch at once and the $2 or so is totally worth a) not having to go to the post office and b) having stamps that I like.
Re: Def Jam piece– “The summer of 2012 was made magical by the release of Channel Orange.” Truer words were never written. So many happy, dreamy, free memories of that summer with Frank Ocean crooning in the background. Sigh.
We stayed Democratic, but it boggles my mind that this dude captured 42% of the vote in our senate race: http://www.delawareliberal.net/2014/10/31/kevin-w…
Kansas is so incredibly fucked I can’t even see it from here. Seriously, I don’t know how we are functioning this morning.
I know you’re not supposed to read the comments anywhere but at The Toast (and maybe The Hairpin) . . . but, I thought it was really funny how much this dude misses one of the points of The Toast while also professing to love it (from Mallory’s interview at the Guardian):
“Toast is brilliant. The spoof chapter titles for various genres (Victorian literature, Russian classics, etc) are original, clever and hilarious.
So why does the Guardian have to come clumping along with some witless political agenda and try to spoil it all? So what if It’s written by women and attracts a large female following? Toast is no more “feminist” than the Daily Mash or News Thump. It’s just quirkier and, on its day, funnier.
Isn’t that enough for you?”
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Has he ever read one thing on the toast besides, I don’t know, “Every [Blank] Ever Written?” when it was linked on his Twitter feed and he wanted to seem self-important?
Oh jesus I just read it and the comments are horrid.
“ALIENATING MEN” “MORE ABUSE” Jesus God in heaven. THERE ARE ENOUGH SITES FOR MEN ON THE INTERNET. The entire fucking universe is set up BASED ON MEN. So if there is ONE website out there that is “a general interest site for women,” it’s suddenly alienating you? YOU HAVE THE ENTIRE FUCKING REST OF THE WORLD AND MEDIA FUCK OFF AND GO ENJOY IT. For example: THE FUCKING GUARDIAN.
GO AWAY.
I LIKE THIS THING, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SPOIL MY ENJOYMENT OF THE THING BY POINTING OUT THAT IT IS NOT DELIBERATELY CURATED TO GENERATE THE INTEREST OF MEN
I also find the whole “What if there was a MEN’S site that said it didn’t need FEMALE views, huh? Wouldn’t women be MAD?” to be so painfully confused. Because, honestly, no I wouldn’t. I don’t care that GQ or Esquire don’t want my pageviews. If a site is specifically and explicitly targeted towards men, a “men’s general interest site,” so long as this site was respectful of women with nary a hint of misogyny, i would be fine with it. I would think it highly unnecessary considering everything you just pointed out above, but its existence wouldn’t actually bother me.
What DOES bother me is when a site that explicitly states that is is either news/general interest OR about certain non-gendered topic – say, sports or finance or whathaveyou – writes exclusively or near-exclusively for men and features predominately male voices. Because that pushes women out of the conversation and implies that women are not interested in said topic(s). And unfortunately, this happens all the time, which is why women-targeted sites ARE necessary. Full circle.
Why is this so difficult to understand?
YES
Men rarely whine that Glamour, Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, Self, etc. aren’t catered to their interests and are deliberately excluding male viewpoints.
Is it because it is a site that is “general interest site for women” getting treated with respect and attention that bothers them?
Well, to be fair, Cosmo and its ilk are still super male-gazey, unless something’s changed in the last few years, so not so much excluding male viewpoints as being All About Men, For Women.
Also, your point about how the mags you’ve listed are dismissed as trash.
Yep. The vibe I was getting from all those comments was “I like and enjoy the Toast and/or Mallory, therefore they MUST exist for me and my interests, it is literally inconceivable to me that someone could create content specifically for women that is also good and intelligent and funny and broadly appealing.” Poor lil peanuts.
All of the hysteria about how the Guardian was somehow misrepresenting Mallory and her views was seriously cracking me up, both because of how amazingly wrong it was and how Mallory is apparently so awesome that she can give an interview basically being like “lol men, right?” and even whiny sexist internet-comment-section manbabies won’t say a word against her.
Well, yes, I agree about my examples being super male-gazey — which is why they don’t upset the average internet misogynist.
It’s just such a poor poor argument saying that “UGH. I can’t believe women’s publication exist! If we tried to create men’s only publications people would be so angry. Why can’t you see my LOGIC??!!”
I was so disappointed with the comments. Not because I was surprised but I just somehow hoped for better from them.
There was this crisp little exchange at the very top of the comments on an article about the harassment video yesterday (the article was titled “Stop telling women how to feel about street harassment”):
weeyin: I’m not telling women how to feel about anything. Please stop telling me to stop telling women anything.
Bertmax:Please stop taking everything personally.
The riposte had more recommends – but only just….
Ok, that serial killer dad post was chilling. And he tortured kittens and killed a cat in front of her? Man. How can you ever think of someone as loving after that?
I also wanted to link to this lovely piece. I feel a little uncomfortable inserting PoC into my (very occasional) fiction writing because my environment is ridiculously white (Dutchie here, the few people of color I interact with tend to be highly educated expats) and while I hate for that to mean that everything I write is lily-white too, I feel like it could easily become tokenistic due to my lack of experience, so this was very helpful http://www.buzzfeed.com/marinaomi/an-illustrated-…
what is the engagement thing about?
A scion of a wealthy British family is getting married. I guess he also has a career? Not that he needs one. Also, he makes some girls’ panties really wet, whatevs.
Bettyboop Candycorn.
I’ve decided this is the only marriage where my bitter, second wave-y soul can readily accept that she might want to change her name. Because why wouldn’t you be a Ms. Calldispatch if you can?
Both of his parents are also actors, and neither one used the name professionally. Presumably for this reason- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northam…
An article worth reading for this sentence, if nothing else: “Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 and Tony Blair, the then prime minister, expressed his “deep sorrow” for the practice in 2006.”
Tony Blair, 199-year-old minister of immortality and vampirism.
1 – I made the mistake of clicking through to and reading the Klickstein piece that is linked from the (awesome) Clarissa article. I feel like I need to shower. “Why make the character Indian instead of the universal race-less default of white?” NO. NO. Stop.
2 – Most things went poorly election-wise here in Michigan, which was pretty much expected. It was actually a little upsetting because close polls and early high turnout numbers made me a little bit hopeful (against my better instincts). Also, I saw that the candidate for my district’s US Representative, whose answer to “How would you reform campaign finance” was “Abolish all elections!” actually received almost 5,000 votes.
We got Gary, though!
Where in the Mitten are you? MichiToasties!! 😀
Woo! Michigan! High five!
True! Gary is one bright spot. I’m in East Lansing, so at least I also still have local representatives who share anything even remotely resembling my worldview.
(Don’t mind my sudden difference in username! It’s just that I finally got around to registering my comment account.)
Totally. Andy’s pretty great (we worked together in Gary’s office back in 2000, in the state senate years). EL seems like it went okay locally, based on my FB feed. Up here in The Pinkie, we actually got TWO Democrats on the county commission for the very first time ever, and our state house seat only lost to the R’s by a tenth of a percent–pretty impressive given how dyed-red it’s been up here since forever.
I will *probably* be coming to Lansing in the next month or so. Soup Spoon coffee/toastiness?
Good to hear! I’m pretty pleased about Sam Singh being re-elected for the House, and it looks like Curtis Hertel is a pretty good choice for State Senate, though losing Gretchen Whitmer to term limits is a rough blow. She was definitely one of my favorites.
Is it weird if I say I feel weird about meeting up? Sorry if it is! I’m just super anxious. I guess I’d be in for a Michigan Toastie group meetup, but I guess I just feel odd about a one-to-one meetup. This is the part where I awkwardly run away tossing apologies about being awkward, right?
Nope, that’s totally legit! I felt weird and awkward as soon as I posted it. No worries.
Are there other Michigan Toasties??
I totally get that. In any case, I appreciate the offer. It was perfectly friendly!
As far as other Michigan Toasties, good question! I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll toss the question out there on the next open thread.
Yes! I am in Traverse City and it is cold and lonely here.
TC?! OMG. I’m just north of Greilickville!
My family has a cabin on Crystal Lake (about 30 miles south of Traverse City) and I’m there for about two weeks every summer! It’s about a 14-hour drive from where I live but soooooooo worth it.
LET US COMMISERATE. Has there ever been a candidate creepier and more wrong than “Doctor” Benishek? Or more completely benighted than “global warming is a conspiracy” Ray Franz? UGGGHHHH burn it all down
Anyway, if you want to meet up in TC someday, let me know. We can totally have soup or a beer. I am at roo underscore heins at hotmail dot com.
Edit: this is meant to be a reply to @houblonchouffe!
ICK ICK SQUICKY DR DAN UGH UGH UGH. And I feel just awful for Betsy; she’s so lovely and her partner is a stand-up dude and she honest-to-pete deserved that win.
Franz only won by less than a tenth of a percent–says volumes for how far this area’s come. ANYWAY. Yes, let’s! I work out in Leland, so days are pretty much out for me. Let’s do Brew or similar one of these cold evenings. elitzan at gmail 🙂
Well, I’m totally game for a more than one person (or just one person, whatever for me!) meet up! (posted below in response to StillTerry before I saw this thread-browser was being weird). I moved here with my girlfriend this summer, and making friends is hard.
I work right next to you in fabulous Delta Township! Gary was a good result and I’m happy with the wolf hunting going down. Otherwise, boo.
Oh man. I forgot about the wolf hunt thing. So glad both of those failed.
East-side Lansing here! woohoo! We should have a meet-up! Also, I am so mad that Bishop is “representing” me. My consolation (aside from Peters winning) is that my polling place had a bake sale with warm sticky buns.
Hey there from the other side of 127! I think I’d be up for a mid-Michigan Toastie group meet-up if one got worked out.
I hope one does!
Scott Walker won reelection in my state and Cumberbatch is engaged. WHERE is my emergency pie
Oh hey we’re in the same state let’s share emergency pie.
Hey I’m here too, let’s just drink (pie is welcome)
Oh, God, me too. And also, Paul Ryan was re-elected. Damn his pretty face.
I’ll bring pie and schnapps.
Oh heyyy I ate pie for breakfast this morning and am about to go eat more for lunch and then immerse myself in sad sad WI voting numbers from yesterday because apparently I hate myself.
never forget
So many fellow WI Toasties! I’ll bring the whipped cream for the pies. Last night felt like such a goddamn joke. Our state is SO fucked.
On a more pleasant note, has there ever been a WI Toast meet-up?
Not as far as I know – and there should be!
Damn straight!
*steps on a soapbox*
HELLO WISCONSIN TOASTIES! In the miserable light of these last elections I vote that we rally our spirits by having a Toast Meet-Up in Wisconsin. You can either reply to this post if you’re interested and/or join this Facebook group that I just made (if you’re comfortable with that). https://www.facebook.com/groups/328075834050365/
We could meet up for drinks, trivia, coffee, food, whatever . . . reply below and LET’S DO THIS!!
Aww I loved and miss Classic Trash! It introduced me to Hollywood Wives after all. *beams with delight*
I wasn’t expecting very much out of Virginia yesterday and that is exactly what I got. At least Warner was reelected, but my congressional district was won by a super-Republican who happens to be married to my former high-school vice principal. The vice principal was an archconservative douche who enjoyed being awful to children, and as far as I can tell, so is she.
Scott Walker has a stupid face.
Yeah. You know, for the greatest nation in the world, we sure do elect a lot of chinless turds to our most important political offices.
Chinless Turds is my new mediocre all-Springsteen cover band, available for office parties and 5K finish lines.
You can play Chris Christie’s first presidental rally after the real Bruce Springsteen tells him to get bent.
AGREED.
I am shocked at how well Rhode Island’s elections went! Massachusetts though… maybe stop with Coakley. It doesn’t seem to be working.
Stop trying to make Coakley happeeeeennnn.
*Checks RI results.* Oh damn, things DID go well! And Providence didn’t reelect twice-convicted felon Cianci? I live a five minute walk over the MA/RI border – I really should just grab my house and move it a hundred feet. (Awww, it’s okay MA – you’re still mostly cool!)
Coakley is MA’s Myrth York.
Providence managed to not embarrass the hell out of itself by electing Buddy Cianci into office again. Still pretty amazed at how close a thing it was.
Well, AT LEAST our municipal bond referendum for library funding passed here! I live in a state where people would rather KEEP VOTING FOR NIKKI HALEY than ever vote for anyone with a -D by their name under any circumstances whatsoever, so I wasn’t expecting much. But this is the library’s first funding referendum since 1986, and we would be absolutely floundering without the money, so yay! 5 new branches! 13 renovated branches!
Oh man, Clarissa. The Clarissa-Ferguson relationship remains (to me) the best depiction of the older sister-younger brother dynamic that I have ever seen. It’s like somebody sat in my house and wrote down everything that happened between my younger brother and me.
Melissa Joan Hart said at one point that people had a hard time believing Clarissa wasn’t real. I’ll believe that. To the best of my recollection, that’s definitely what it felt like to be a teenager in the 90s.
About the elections…..at least we still have Mike Honda?
My great aunt and uncle were both spelunkers and mountaineers, and they wrote a book about caving, if we’re actually recommending books about caving. She was on the first female team to free-climb Devil’s Tower, and he used to clean the faces on Mt. Rushmore. It includes a recipe for cave bread.
THIS IS TOO MUCH AMAZING. CAVE BREAD. CLEANING MT RUSHMORE. WHAT. WHAT IS MY LIFE.
This is amazing. And your great-aunt and -uncle sound like wonderful, remarkable people!
MANLESS ASCENT OF DEVILS TOWER, for your enjoyment and edification.
Cave bread sounds even better than cake in an orange
Oregon legalized, so at least I know how I will be riding out this Republican congress.
We also passed the ERA, so I’m feeling ok about Oregon at least (except for the driver ID cards for undocumented immigrants not passing, I’m really mad the racist scare ads won against that one).
Did you hear the leader of the No to Driver ID campaign on OPB last night when they called it? Total sweetie Dave Miller asked her if she thought that the Republicans would try for comprehensive immigration reform since they are the majority now and she answered in a way that made her sound like the racisty racist that ever racisted.
Missed that, but there was an article in the Willamette Week about her a few weeks ago, and yeah, she’s awful. http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-23168-drivi…
Thank you for the article. I should have known what was behind this all along.
Clarissa Darling is the number one reason I’m proud to work at Nick…
The good election news out of Illinois is that there is now a 70% chance Bruce Rauner will end up in a federal prison.
Guys I’m so bummed about Wendy Davis.
Me too.
Me three.
me four
Me also. Bummed and heartsick.
Americans, I didn’t even KNOW you were having an election at all until yesterday. I still don’t really know what all happened, because you have way too many States. Lots of anti-abortionists won, is all I took away from it. (Which is fucking terrible on its own.)
Having recently moved from WI to MA, I am feeling particularly down today. Dammit, Wisconsin, you really want more of that? I can stretch my imagination to people who didn’t vote for the recall on matters of “I don’t think there should be a recall” but really? Four more years. You break my heart.
Tennessee depresses me. I didn’t exactly have high hopes for the politicians, but I did sincerely hope that the abortion amendment and the state income tax amendment wouldn’t pass. But of course they did, because they’re exactly what we don’t need here.
At least local grocery stores can sell wine now so I don’t have to drive to the liquor store to drown my sorrows in something besides beer.
I haven’t gotten to read the piece yet but YAY CHRISTINA!
Love, a white person you know
No one will see this probably, but why Maine, why? Paul LePage was not a good mayor of Waterville (I went to college there) and was a terrible governor who repeatedly blocked medicaid expansion. I know you want to be special and vote for third party candidates, but god damn just vote for the Dem. Mike Michaud is a fine politician! He was my rep in college!
Argh.
It might depend on your body shape and whether you have trouble finding trousers/leggings that fit. Leggings are tight but very stretchy, so I find I have a greater range of motion and the waistband digs into my stomach less–so that's more comfortable for me. This winter I've actually decided to stop wearing trousers entirely (or at least, as much as possible) because I find them that much less comfortable.
Oooh where do you buy them? I want to be picky about my stamps, but not while there's a line of people standing behind me at the post office.
We will die for the sins of the country.
Ugh. I am so not a martyr.
Also, hey, if you're at the state school that's currently about to be overrun with BB fever (I won't tell you which one, but you know the one), my office is 3001B in the building that was supposed to be a parking garage. Come by and see me sometime.
Yeah, white women are by far the most disappointing thing about Texas. I never wanted to move back home [to Ontario] more than after a conversation with one of my neighbors about health insurance and the ACA. Despite being an unemployed single mother, she decided that she would "rather go to jail" than get health insurance just to please Obama (kind of a misreading of the law, if you ask me). She said if one of her kids got sick, she would just have to "find the money", and if she got sick, well basically she hand-waved that God would work things out for her. Or not, but she sure as hell isn't going to rely on the government for help! Again, kind of a misreading of the law, but the point is, Texas women are just as awful as Texas men, and I really need to get myself home.
I am also this brand of weird, because animal abuse hits me in a way that human abuse just DOES NOT. I think it’s because animals (kittens! WTF, why is it ALWAYS KITTENS???) are innocent and lack free will. A puppy or a kitten is not going to grow up to be a maniacal killer or despot where a person theoretically could. Adult people are complex where baby animals are not, I guess? Which makes the reaction more visceral?
That sounds more heartless than I meant it to, and I feel like I need to say “Hello, hi, DO NOT MURDER PEOPLE, THAT IS TERRIBLE.”