I spoke to Reverend King the other day and he told me to tell you to keep his name outta ya mouth
— shrillmatic (@theshrillest) April 28, 2015
Are you reading Alexis Coe’s amaaaaazing things in Pacific Standard?
“Do you realize,” he sneered, “that I could charter a helicopter right now, and we could be having dinner in Napa?”
Why breakups return us to the music we loved as teens:
On the way home from getting his heartbroken at a steak house in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, my friend Dylan got the urge to pull his Volvo Sedan over onto the side of the road. There, he proceeded to listen to “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls on repeat until he felt a little better. That summer, he’d spend time driving through the rural countryside with his windows down, singing songs like “Hands Down” by Dashboard Confessional at the top of his lungs.
This is a beautiful poem by Ocean Vuong:
Here’s the house with childhood
whittled down to a single red tripwire.
Don’t worry. Just call it horizon
& you’ll never reach it.
I love The Butter’s Ashley Ford, talking about her Kenny Loggins-themed Twitter background:
If I can be honest, I had no idea Kenny Loggins wasn’t some amazing, sensitive new artist who seemed to really care about kids and nature and stuff. When I realized that how much I dug him was a little off-brand for my demographic, I tried to be sneaky about my adoration. Unfortunately, I’ve never been great at pretending. I think a Kenny Loggins lyric is my senior quote from high school. As I got older, my love for Kenny only deepened. I have all of his albums, I know most of his songs by heart, and anyone who knows me KNOWS about him too. It’s inevitable.
Because of my intense love for Kenny, people often ask if I’ve ever has any contact with him, seen a show, etc. Aside from the fact that he RT’d me talking about his cameo on Archer, we’ve never had any direct contact. I did send him some fan mail a few years ago to say we had the same birthday, and that I think he’s amazing. I’ve never seen him live, and frankly, I’m afraid I’d pass out or something.
The thing on Game of Thrones where in the books it’s a new character but in the show it’s a character we already know? GOOD. GOOD FOR THEM. NO MORE FUCKING CHARACTERS.
I said we would never write about pubes again, but I WILL link to a piece called “The Best Time I Burned The Shit Out Of My Hand Whilst Waxing My Box For A Boy.”
I LOVE THE SIMON SISTERS:
PG: Is it true that Judy Collins introduced you to your husband?
LS: Absolutely.
PG: Between that and Carly writing “Anticipation” while waiting for a date with Cat Stevens, did you two know any not-famous people?
LS: Our lives were like Forrest Gump!
my love for Laura Ortberg Turner is like a candle on the water
Mallory and I did this workout TOGETHER yesterday and it was garbage:
Careful Ashley – Kenny Loggins is the gateway to Michael McDonald. From there it’s downhill all the way to the Eagles.
OK that may be true, but Michael McDonald singing “While You Wait for the Others” by Grizzly Bear is positively transcendent. Like, I get chills every time starting at 3:41. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPI7oU-fuGw
WHO DARES equate Michael McDonald with the goddamn Eagles???
Oh, the waxing story D:
I read it when Mallory tweeted yesterday, and just the memory of some of the descriptions is making we squirm with visceral empathetic pain.
Also, as a UK Toastie, it’s so messed up that the American healthcare system means a person’s first thought when this happens isn’t ‘call 999 / take me to A&E’…
Also, as a UK Toastie, it’s so messed up that the American healthcare system means a person’s first thought when this happens isn’t ‘call 999 / take me to A&E’…
Seriously. Burns on hands are not something to take lightly (if I am remembering first aid stuff right).
Look, here’s what I don’t understand about police in Baltimore. If I was working for an organization, and I found out that people in that organization were beating people to death and the organization was paying lawyers to cover it up, I would quit. Or strike, or at the very least complain about it. I know what it’s like to have a union, I’m in a union, and if a guy at the welfare office starts stealing food stamps for his buddies, no one here says “You don’t understand what it’s like, why won’t you support us, &c.” We say, “Yeah, that guy is a criminal and he should be fired and go to jail, because he gives the rest of us a bad name.”
Are there a lot of police who are saying that, though? Because I want to see it; I would share the SHIT out of public statements from Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assocations saying that police brutality is completely unacceptable and that law and order is impossible when police departments shelter officers that commit it. I genuinely want to believe that not all cops are going to tolerate abuse and brutality and outright murder.
But where are they?
*applause*
excuse me I think you dropped this mic
*standing ovation*
Someone on my twitter feed just shared this: http://www.citypaper.com/news/features/bcpnews-wh…
As a cadet Jenkins-Bey and his class of police recruits were taken on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. “We really do hope they make the connection between now and then,” David G. Klevan, a museum educator, told The Sun at the time. “We hope they’ll think about it later. I personally want them to think, ‘What happens when a whole population is defined as criminal?’”
Jenkins-Bey says many of the men and women he worked with did not take the lesson. Routine violations of the General Orders—the policy bible that all officers are supposed to follow to the letter—beget sloppy policing and a culture of callous laxity.
(tl;dr those #NotAllCops already quit)
i’ll offer a long-ass thought as someone who does misconduct investigations for law enforcement…the blue line is effective because if you cross it you’re physically endangered. they close ranks because the price of not doing so is their own getting arrested or hurt, since they are inviting violence on a regular basis just by the nature of their work.
i am in a union too but if one of us were to steal money (or do some other crime), we aren’t depending on each other for backup and help in a dangerous setting. we all work in offices, with a couple of exceptions. if someone here has a problem with me, the worst thing that might happen is a shouting match or refusing to help me with paperwork. maybe a brief fistfight, in the extreme. i’m not counting on anyone here to save my life or run toward a threat for me, though, so i can easily speak out about something i think is wrong without worrying i might get beat up later or retaliated against by being assigned to work the graveyard shift two hours away from where i live.
the whistleblower in a police force will be shunned and perhaps even attacked by others. most importantly, s/he will not be able to count on backup in the field. s/he will get relocated to a shitty post (“highway therapy” they call it) or switched to a bad schedule, locker/belongings and car might get vandalized, s/he might start getting threats from colleagues, people refusing to partner up, not responding to calls, supervisors not standing up for you when you need them to, etc. when incidents are investigated others will lie about the person or imply they were culpable. i have personally seen it – even the notion that someone is cooperating with an internal investigation (or with the inspector general) caused harassment, vandalism, threats, basically shaking the witness up so they were afraid to go into work with target officers. it strongly discourages doing the right thing. people are genuinely worried. i remember some witnesses just bursting into tears while we were interviewing them, even though they had been told they weren’t the target of the investigation.
there are some whistleblower cops, but it’s rare. mostly there are decent people who stay quiet because they don’t want to cross the line and put themselves in danger or risk their careers. they just want to make it to retirement without getting hurt or indicted, most are in it for the ego and the pay, not because they want to help people. no PBA would come out against brutality because they would never admit it is occurring in the first place. from the beginning, the culture aggressively reinforces this norm of “it’s us against them” and “we are family to one another” and “no civilian understands what it’s really like to do this for a living” etc.
typically the only way i can get someone to tell the whole truth is if they’re still on probation and i give them the impression we can tell if they’re lying or not, because while you’re still on probation, at least in the agency i work for, we can theoretically fire you for lying. once off probation that same person will make sure their statements and reports are consistent with what everyone else said, regardless of what actually happened, regardless of even what a video of the incident shows.
i don’t think most cops are excited about engaging in physical abuse and brutality (well, some more than others) but i think all of them are comfortable lying. i would not trust one to tell me the truth about anything because of how easily and quickly they lie. i have shown guys video of an incident and asked “tell me what you see happening on the video” and they would lie to my face on recording while looking at the footage. it really is that bad.
(SORRY, CLEARLY I GOT A LOT OF THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS SH&%)
and in conclusion, i am continuously trying to find a way out of this work, because it’s depressing and largely useless.
probably the most effective way to deal with police brutality is sue the hell out of them individually and get the city/insurance company to stop indemnifying them. watch how quickly people behave once they realize they could lose everything they’re earning!
well, I mean I basically understand why it happens — the “good cops” are harrassed and intimidated into silence by a culture that protects its own first. What I don’t really understand is the public insistence that we always look to the good cops first, if it’s plainly the attitidues of the criminal bullies that are defining the culture of the police force. In a sense, “where are the good cops” is really just a rhetorical question meant to illustrate the fact that, however many good cops there might or might not be, they’re not the ones who are running the show.
Also, shit I WISH cities would stop indemnifying police. Is that even a huge change to make? Couldn’t you just set it up the way that other organizations do, where if the person violates the rules (the General Orders, or whatever) then they aren’t covered by city insurance?
I don’t know enough about Maryland governance to try and find the relevant laws, but in New York, for state employees (note, speaking only in my own capacity here), indemnification is not available where the employee was not acting within the scope of their employment or where the damages/injuries resulted from the employee’s intentional wrongdoing. So that may already be the case on the books; practice is, of course, a different matter.
I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse. On the one hand, there’s a solution available, all we’ve got to do is get people to use it. On the other hand, getting people to do things is actually much harder than just passing some laws.
Thanks for this, it’s good to hear an insider perspective.
There’s a bit in a Spider Robinson novel where one character says basically that 5% of cops are are cops because they want to help people, 5% of cops are cops because they want to be able to get away with being awful to people, and 90% of cops are cops because they just want to drive a car with a flashing light on top.
When I first read it I thought he might be exaggerating how bad the situation was, but since then I haven’t actually seen much evidence that he was wrong.
(I’d have posted the exact wording, because I’m sure he said it better than me, but I can’t find the quote online anywhere, and I don’t have the book handy. It’s in Very Bad Deaths.)
These days (with the economy the way it is), I’d guess maybe 70% just want a steady job with a real pension.
“probably the most effective way to deal with police brutality is sue the hell out of them”
I would agree. One good example is the Cincinnati Collaborative Agreement, which was established as the result of an ACLU racial profiling lawsuit and legal settlement. Under the agreement, the city had to work closely with community groups for several years and actually listen to their input on policing practices. (With oversight by a federal judge and an independent monitor). There was also a pretty in-depth investigation of the department’s practices.
It certainly hasn’t solved all of Cincinnati’s problems, but it has led to a better relationship between police and the community.
(I worked at the ACLU branch that filed the suit, though that was slightly before my time and I wasn’t personally involved).
Wait, so, what I’m hearing is:
The cops are so violent as a group that even the “good” cops within the group are terrified of their violence?
Because that is fucked up.
Yes, fucked up. But true. I have cops among my kin.
This is such an awesome comment and I have sent it to dozens of friends. It’s so illuminating and also confirms exactly what I’ve always “known” in a more specific way. I hope Mal and Nicole read this and said “wow this is the best pitch for a piece we’ve gotten in months.”
Tony nominations!.
Fun Home is, as would be expected, nominated for pretty much everything, as is An American in Paris and Something Rotten. Guys, I saw Something Rotten in previews, and it is a very fun and silly show, but if it wins over Fun Home things WILL NOT END WELL.
FUN HOME. “Telephone Wire” and “Ring of Keys” are two incredible additions to the musical theater genre and they should win everything.
Agreed with Fun Home for everything! I am petrified that with three nominations for supporting actress, it’ll be a split vote and it’ll go to one of the other nominees, but seriously, Sydney Lucas, for Ring of Keys alone, and having been performing it since she was *9*.
Ashley should go to a Kenny Loggins concert! I went ages ago because my BFF was/is a huge fan. It was at the Cal State Fullerton Basketball Gym, and the crowd was 80% women. It was a lovefest and everyone sang along to all of the songs. Afterwards he must have signed 100 autographs and he was super nice and friendly to everyone who wanted to say hello.
You could do worse than to be a Kenny Loggins fan.
The more Game of Thrones deviates from the books, the more I like it. I like the surprise.
I should add that I haven’t actually watched any of this season yet because I also like it better when I watch the whole thing at once, so I do not yet know what Nicole’s comment is about.
I’ve watched them but it could be any number of things maybe? I am with you definitely! It’s like getting two things for the price of one, kind of!
My book reader friends and I have agreed that anyone who’s read the books and isn’t enjoying this season is a humorless, miserable person. I like being surprised! (That being said, I am very nervous for Sansa this season, but I will withhold my judgement until all is revealed.)
There was this article on Buzzfeed (spoilers if you haven’t seen this season yet), but they actually wrote “Guess we’re not getting the Kettleblacks or Taena Merrywether this season.”
Like, really? Is anyone ACTUALLY upset that they cut the Kettleblacks? COME ON.
I’m really worried we’ll be getting a Theon-style super-graphic season-long rape and torture storyline for Sansa and I do not want to see that!
edited to delete, I didn’t see the Sansa discussion downthread and I don’t want to spoil any one!
I AM PRAYING TO THE OLD GODS AND THE NEW THAT BRIENNE SAVES HER FIRST
Dance with Dragons is actually kind of bad, so I am fully on board with most of the show changes.
It is so nice that they are accelerating a lot of the plot points that were a total drag in the books, while Martin was trying to figure out how to get out of certain situations or whatever. Much more streamlined and fewer dead ends.
*Opens Alexis Coe piece in new tab*
“The man-child standing before me in the coffee shop was wearing a faded Facebook hoodie, which means something very specific in San Francisco. He wanted people to know that he was an early employee of Facebook, and that in 2012, when the company went public, he became a millionaire. He looked to be in his late 20s, and since it was 11 o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday, it was clear that employment was optional. He could do as he pleased, and being told “no” wasn’t to his liking….”
*closes tab*
Sorry, man-children, I can usually muster a hate-read for you, but today’s my birthday and I reserve the right to demur. I leave your takedown in the capable hands of the other Toast commentariat.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU DO YOU.
Happy birthday! Every time you are tempted to hate-read, google-image a different baby animal.
I did read it, but I take grim pleasure in knowing he’s never heard “Ping Pong” by Stereolab. “Wait for it, kid…..wait for it.”
(I can never find a scan from Alan Moore’s “Promethea” of Chucklin’ Duck “Heh heh! I got out of internet trading just in time!”.)
Oh and the cheetah cub has a dog friend.
Really, read it, it’s probably in your local public library everybody!
HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYY
Life would be so much easier if the endless tides of arrogant, ambitious young men were told the word “no” a good few times before being released on the world to make their fortunes.
I’m imagining an organization that pairs young women who want to practice saying no with young men who need to hear it, and it’s a DELIGHTFUL thought.
TAKE MY MONEY
“Hi, I’m Emily. I’m a no-er. This is Josh, my no-ee. We’re really working as a team to make the world a better place!”
“Okay, Jenna, we’ve identified a No-ee for you – he’s on the third barstool from the right. When he asks if he can buy you a drink, what are you going to say?”
“No, thanks!”
“Right on! And what do you think he’ll say?”
“Hmm….’what, are you too good to just sit and talk to me a while?’ And then I’ll just shrug and smile and say ‘Yup.'”
“Dang, Jenna, you’ve got this DOWN. Get in there and make us proud.”
That’s beautiful.
LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
I volunteer to write grants and/or set up a 501(c)(3).
It’s my birthday too! Happy birthday!
That post on music we listen to after a breakup had me listening to Konstantine by Something Corporate and led me to this post http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/something-c…
Had a really hard time yesterday not serenading my co workers with
“I always catch the clock it’s 11:11
And now you want to talk”
IT’S NOT HARD TO DREAM YOU’LL ALWAYS BE MY KONSTANTINE
I feel like I have referenced that song no less than 50 times on the Toast because I don’t care, it’s great AND they talk about Jimmy Eat World.
AND THOSE NIGHTS IN MY CAR AND THE LAST STAR YOU SEE MIGHT NOT BE A STAR
I’M NOT YOUR STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
Holy crap. I was like, huh, I don’t think that Something Corporate song. Then I listened to it on youtube.
Yup, I totally know that song. All the lyrics. How did I forget this?
CAUSE WE ALL NEED A LITTLE MORE ROOM…TO LIVEEEE
I don’t know what’s the matter with me, but when I broke up with my boyfriend, instead of listening to teenage songs, I listened to Judy Garland singing “Stormy Weather” on repeat … and on the day in question, in my normally always sunny city, it started raining. I sat outside with Stormy playing in the background and no one could see me cry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ioDJZpKCEE
I like that we seem to be weeding out all of the various MacGuffins and unnecessary plotlines and characters. I think it’s pretty safe to say that all the stuff we’re skipping from the books is just not relevant in the end. Which, you know, great, but also WHYYYYYYY, GRRM?
LADY STONEHEART THO
ALSO ASHA GREYJOY THO
ALSO ARIANNE MARTELL THO
Yeah good point! Ellaria as stand-in for Arianne is just not as interesting to me.
Ellaria without Oberyn is a nobody. Arianne is a Princess and a great (perhaps only) example of a GOT culture that isn’t a misogynistic hellhole… but viewers would be too confused about that apparently? ugh
It just occurred to me that they could easily have introduced Arianne by having her accompany Oberyn and Ellaria to Kings Landing. And then both would have been there to see *squish* and then we could have had Arianne all “VENGEANCE FOR MY BRO” and Ellaria on the other hand “no enough killing is enough” and then there would be all kinds of interladypersonal conflict and Bechdel-test-passing BUT NO. WE WERE DENIED.
I know!!! I have so many questions! What’s happening up in the Iron Islands? Why is Sansa still faffing around in the Vale if we’re just going to send her back up to Winterfell? Where is young Griff? SOMEONE HELP ME.
Yeah, if all the characters and plot threads being cut are actually not ever going anywhere in the books, then the books are like 50% Quentyn Martell-style wheel spinning and do not make me hugely positive about reading GRRM faff around with them for another 1000 pages. It’s one thing if it’s AFFC-Brienne-style explorations of existing characters and social commentary, but when it’s just random new characters wandering around I’m not interested.
I want to talk about Sansa! Will put the rest in a comment so that people can avoid spoilers.
So… After “High Sparrow”, I’m both really frightened for her and really eager to see what will happen. I mean, Ramsey is capital-B Bad News. The descriptions of what happens to the fake-Arya he marries in the books are sickening. But at the same time, Sansa has developed into such a strong player, and she has supporters all over in that castle, so I really hope that she turns the table on him.
I’m also curious about how this plays out. We saw enough of Sansa being tortured by Joffrey, I don’t need to see more. I’m hoping for a rewrite of this storyline with Sansa kicking ass. It may be a lot to hope for though…
Ok im back. I CAN talk about this. There are *3* interviews from actors that ALL describe 1 scene that they were all VERY uncomfortable w. 1 actor saying he didnt want to do it; 1 actress who mentioned an acting “challenge”; and another who was like “i cant believe i had to bear witness”… BEAR WITNESS???!
tl;dr– they are going to do something fk’d up and terrible to Sansa thats straight from Ms. Poole’s storyline and i HATE IT W MY ENTIRE BEING. Can my love of the book surive more sexual torture? REALLY UNSURE.
no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
aaaand hope is lost
I really really really hope you’re not right… but yeah that sounds bad. Hasn’t the poor girl suffered enough?
Theres also an interview on EW.com from the showrunners like “we LOVE the Jeyne storyline, but we already have a well known and well loved actress! So why now make the swap? It’ll be DRAMATIC!” — which, yes, but also *gross and disgusting and she’s already been tortured where is her strong redemption story arc?*
These are also the same people who thought that the rape tapestry scene at Crasters Keep was justified by a literal stab in the back by a victim next ep because of #feminism… so… im not quiiiiite sure they *get it*.
Yeah… it’s the double feeling I have about GoT: on the one hand, there are so many great, layered, fascinating female characters (Arya, Sansa, Daenerys, Cercei, Brienne, Margaery, Olenna, etc.), but on the other, they use sexual violence so casually, as if it’s a) an every day occurence and b) a handy way to motivate people, that I can never truly trust them.
Sansa doesn’t need to be kickass or even necessarily victorious. But if she gets no agency in the scenario, and gets used just to show us (again! As if we could forget!) what evil scum Ramsey is, I will be really disappointed.
I feel like the showrunners don’t understand Sansa as a character at all. I’m prepared for them to eff this up royally.
I understand your, but the Jeyne storyline is a huge part of Theon’s redemption arc, and I do see how it’s even more significant when it’s Sansa instead of Jeyne. But I also assume that protection of Sansa being abused is why Brienne is still following her around. (She IS Sansa’s One True Knight!!!)
Dammit, I haven’t uploaded my screencap of Graham Chapman King Arthur so just visualize him:
“THAT is why ‘A Dance With Dragons’ is good!”
JUMP, REEK, JUMP!
(BRIENNE DOESN’T SPEND A WHOLE DAMN BOOK/SEASON GOING THE WRONG WAY!)
(I was also hopeful that Daenerys had FINALLY got her shit together and her head on straight at the end of the book)
I think they were a little tentative last year as they got to the end of the “Storm” plot but they fucking took their foot off the brake this year.
She is a fucking Amazon. Just glorious.
I tried to be nice and not post the full-size…but helpfully provide the link to the set. “YOU BEAUTIFUL ENORMOUS WOMAN!”
https://youtu.be/bFNm3yoVOS4
Laura Stone gets her (and Pod) http://heydontjudgeme.com/2015/04/27/game-of-thro…
There.
I hope you’re right! i want to be wrong sooooo badly….
Im assuming Brienne+Pod+Theon are the new Mance & Co., but even in the books their rescue doesn’t happen until Lady Stark’s tears are heard echoing off of Winterfells walls and she’s covered in bite marks and bruises (UGHHHH). So hopefully— idk something else happens? There’s also the add’l dynamic of crazy xgf in the show so who knows???
Yeah, I’m nervous, too. I’ve read Iwan, Alfie, and Sophie’s interviews and…I’m biting my nails. It’s just…I do sort of understand why they replaced Jeyne with Sansa, but I do NOT understand how that works with Littlefinger’s plans at all. He likes having control of Sansa, and that is difficult to do with Roose and Ramsay around.
LF’s show motivations are… really very unclear. From the released preview ch there’s a tease of his grand plan in the book, i.e. ride out winter in this oasis of plenty and non-devastation as the rest of Westeros crumbles. Which is pretty brilliant. Oh, and also keep an eye on Sansa who will tied to a powerful yet easily manipulated puppet human.
That Alayne chapter was brilliant! My little Sansa <3 Sorry all the dudes you have to hang around are total butts.
Also, the Mad Mouse totally knows who she is.
WHATTT?!!! Fuck Benioff and Weiss. Seriously fuck. them.
I may just skip straight past this and assume I can figure out what happened. I barely watched the Joffrey scenes. I know what happens! I’m good!
NOOOOOOOOOO
I have been so, so upset by this since I watched the leaked episodes a couple weeks ago (sorry, HBO). I keep expecting to grow immured to the thought, but then I think about it again and I JUST CANNOT EVEN.
I think it’s a great change to get Sansa to a more active place in the story, and I can see why this makes sense as the place to insert her, but it just feels so sadistic. And HOW COULD LITTLEFINGER NOT KNOW ABOUT RAMSAY?! He knows freaking everything. And Ramsay is out publicly flaying people who disobey! It feels like they are undercutting the one person who actually has a smart plan in this whole crazy world, just so they can make Sansa suffer more AND SHE HAS ALREADY SUFFERED ENOUGH.
I don’t care if the ultimate result is going to be Sansa and Theon getting their own back. Sansa already WENT through hell. She already escaped. It’s SO MEAN to put her back into the only possible WORSE place.
All that said, they better have that freaking Frey pie, and I will be happy if Sansa is involved in making it happen. Also I will be happy if she personally disembowels Ramsay. Or if Brienne leaps through the window before Ramsay can put a finger on Sansa and chops off his dick. Any of those things, I will be fine with. Bearing witness == NOT FINE
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME
I really NEED to have Sansa get Manderley’s Rat Cook Pie recipe and mastermind the whole thing herself. It would be epic.
If they do that to Sansa I might have to bow out. I love GoT, and it feels mean so say it was “okay” when it was Jeyne, but I can’t take that. I just cannot.
YEP. We have already experienced Benioff and Weiss’s disgusting tendency of building female character’s agency/story only to, in very short order, put them through psycho-sexual torture i.e. the Ros/Joffrey subplot which was completely unnecessary and misogynistic as hell. I just know they’re going to do it again because apparently they can’t help themselves? Do they think this is good writing? Do they think this is what people want to see? Do they think these things realistically portray medieval life?! I don’t understand them (though I’m sure their motive is mostly profit) and I realllllly don’t like them.
SERIOUSLY. And we know there actually is an executive producer saying, “Look, I represent the pervert side of the audience, okay? Everybody else is the serious drama side—I represent the perv side of the audience, and I’m saying I want full frontal [female] nudity in this scene.” http://winteriscoming.net/2012/06/01/blackwater-d…
I am so over the show. My husband still watches, but is really upset at hearing about this plotline.
NO. THIS IS WHY I HATE THE SHOW. THIS.
Someone high up in the GOT production staff gets off on making female actresses uncomfortable, and it’s ruined my ability to enjoy the show. >_<
Yesss! I always want to talk about Sansa <3 I am actually tentatively hopeful about this – they’ve already done the “Sansa-is-trapped-in-an-engagement-with-an-evil-monster-boy-who-loves-to-torture” plot line so I really doubt they’ll just repeat it. She has matured and is in a castle of people who have her back. I think he also will be under pressure from Roose to be decent to her but what I can see happening is that girl who is Ramsay’s evil torture-buddy try to mess with Sansa (she was giving her some serious side-eye) only for Sansa to use what she’s learnt from Margaery about controlling psychopaths to turn him against her.
I’m hoping now for a sharp deviation from the books where Sansa single-handedly kills every man she’s ever met, and then rides off to claim the Iron Throne on the raised zombie of Lady.
BOOK SPOILERS:
I am EXTRAORDINARILY UPSET about this Sansa thing. I don’t mind book changes and I don’t mind streamlining characters but what I HATE is that now Sansa gets to be sexually and physically terrorized. Again. Some more. Not that I want it to happen to another innocent girl either. I just….damn it GRRM. I hate this plot and Ramsay so much. There’s no winning. I hope Sansa doesn’t get raped. But from all the interviews it doesn’t sound…encouraging.
I have to say, as a feminist and a masochist, I’m so torn. It’s like, on the one hand of course I want Sansa to have agency and kick ass and manipulate the hell out of Ramsey… at the same time the idea of helplessly getting passed from one sadist to another is fucking hot as hell. And despite the amount of “women getting killed as a plot device” on TV, there really doesn’t seem to be much female torture. Just unsexy male torture. So I’m hoping Sansa kicks ass, but I’m more than happy to have some sadistic torture scenes instead.,
I think it’s likely that Sansa’s going to have to go through something bad, I just hope that 1) they tone it down from the books because I could seriously barely read that part when it was happening to a character we didn’t really know, I can’t WATCH it happen to a character I love and 2) that they realize that Sansa has a story arch and character progression and don’t sacrifice that by making her a victim again in service of Theon’s arc and minimizing story bloat. I feel like Sansa’s already been ripped off a bit by the adaptation cutting down her character growth in favour of more time for Tyrion and other male characters, so they better now throw what little she has out the window by making her a damsel in distress. I’m particularly worried about that one because Sophie Turner did an interview where she said she was so excited after last season for Sansa to come into her own and be a player and then she got the Season 5 scripts and she said her reaction was “Oh.”
ME TOO UGH UGHHH UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH thats all i can manage rt now.
I shouldn’t have read the piece about music feels because that is all I am having this morning, as both a current and former emo kid that can’t shake the label, this line shook me a lot:
“Adolescence is when you listen to the most music,” says Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, author of On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind. “It’s when you chose the kind of music that will inform your identity.”
WHERE MY EMO KIDS AT, someone cry with me about The Starting Line or something
yooooo pop punk 5ever
(hi toast music friend!)
I mean I spent all yesterday morning singing along to Motion City Soundtrack soooo
5EVR IS MORE THAN 4EVR
I knew no less than three people who used that as their LJ icon I swear.
NO YOU WERE DRIVING ALL OVER TOWN BLASTING TAKING BACK SUNDAY THIS WEEKEND
AND WHAT IF I WAS
“CUTE WITHOUT THE E (CUT FROM THE TEAM)” IS THE BEST SONG TO SING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE FREEWAY. BEEEEEST.
I like playing “Tell All Your Friends” back to back with Brand New’s “Your Favorite Weapon” because it makes me think of how much Jesse Lacey wanted (wants?) to beat the snot out of Adam Lazzara.
MICS ARE FOR SINGING, NOT SWINGING
Welp. I know what I’m doing this afternoon.
Did you perhaps catch this one recently?
http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/the_10_bes…
brb, watching a million early 2000s videos of jesse being 18 forever…
Did my friends and I start singing Motion City Soundtrack and Saves the Day this weekend? Yes, yes we did.
Do I regularly play a very emotional cover of “Jessie and My Whetstone” on the guitar and hope my neighbors and roommates don’t know what band it is? Yes, yes I do.
oh god i forgot about this song, why did you remind me of this song???
TO MEEE THE ONLY THING LEFT AFTER A WWHIILE
I made an EPIC Spotify playlist this year called “Pop Punk O’Clock (don’t judge me you know you like it)”.
And I haven’t even read the article yet but I know it’s gonna kill me, because I listened to “Kill” by Jimmy Eat World about a million times during an adult breakup and tried really hard not to notice that it was being pulled from the One Tree Hill soundtrack.
Last week I listened to the entire Futures album on repeat, because I am an adult and I’m allowed to feel like a miserable teenager if I want. Right?
I’ll take it a step further– Jimmy Eat World has consistently been putting out good albums since Futures and I listen to ALL of them fairly regularly.
I can’t say the same for Less Than Jake or Reel Big Fish, but I still <3 them forever.
JEW are my favorite band of all time. I will follow them to the ends of the earth.
They just toured Futures here in Aus for its 10 year anniversary, and though I’m much more of a Bleed American girl myself, I was stunned at the way they work a room.
Seriously, the opening band was just genuinely AWFUL, and everyone was talking and sitting and ignoring, then as soon as Jimmy came on the whole room was at attention. so good.
I was pissed I missed the Clarity 10x, but managed to catch the Bleed American 10x. Sadly the Futures 10x didn’t make its way around here, but I’m so glad it was great!!
no, you got weepy at a the get up kids reunion show when they played “i’ll catch you.”
this is just reminding me that i saw bright eyes in concert 5 times in my 4 years of high school.
This is just reminding me of the time I snuck back stage at a Bright Eyes concert and got caught about ten feet outside of Conor’s dressing room– I also met Coco Rosie and Devendra Banhart, but the only thing I was interested in saying to them was “Hey, where’s Conor?”
Ahahahaha I lost my virginity to that song because it was my favorite song at the time. OH MAN.
hahah ahh that’s excellent. i lost my virginity to some nameless EDM tune—i kind of wish it could have been something more hilariously dated. like…something by alkaline trio or the jealous sound.
I’m 99% sure I may have had Dashboard Confessional on. I don’t know what that says about me.
Went to college in Baltimore and can’t really deal with all the comments rn from friends and alumni about how their “hearts are breaking” over the riots. If your hearts weren’t breaking already, way before now, there’s a problem. I also made the mistake of looking at a couple of forums where students post, and so many of the comments were just the MOST. TERRIBLE. GARBAGE. I know they are young, and I was also young and very, very ignorant and immature at one time, but I wish they weren’t so quick to believe that THEY are the victims and this is happening to THEIR city. When you go to school in a city, even if you love it a lot, even if it feels more like home to you than where you are from, you’re still an interloper in a lot of ways. I’m sad for the people of Baltimore who are just trying to defend themselves against state violence. I’m sad and ashamed of how oblivious and ignorant I was when I lived in Baltimore as a student. and I know how I feel isn’t the point, but I do love and miss that place, even though I was only ever an outsider and no doubt part of the problem.
If it’s any consolation, I am friends with people who work in higher education in Baltimore. Often, people who work in academia have a relationship to the city where they work that’s similar to a student’s relationship – I’m not from here, but this place is now an important part of my life/me – and they are clear-eyed and heartbroken. Maybe that feeling can be shared in classrooms and libraries and common spaces. Maybe it will begin to make a difference for those young people who have NO idea how young they are.
Where did you go to college? I’m from Baltimore and went to Goucher. Yeah, college kids are not the only oblivious ones. I lived in Baltimore nearly all my life and this is the first time I’ve ever even heard of Sandtown-Winchester. And that’s fucked up.
I went to UMBC. Our Habitat for Humanity chapter worked in Sandtown-Winchester. This was a long time coming. :/
I’m so sorry! I’ve kept away from many alumni/current student posting areas because I was pretty sure it would make my bile rise. If it helps at all, many alums I still keep in touch with on fb are also sharing some of the same donation links that Hieu linked below.
Yeah–many of the links I’m posting are things I’m seeing on FB as well. One of the reassuring things today is how quickly and how broadly these things are being shared around. I’m just trying to get them out further and hopefully share with everyone outside of Bmore that we are mobilizing to clean up as well.
yeah, some of the alumni I know are also saying good things! I’ve just been disheartened by some of the others.
Spent my teens in Howard County. On Facebook I see lots of people I knew in middle/high school saying their hearts are breaking for Baltimore… can’t help but wonder which neighborhoods they’re thinking of.
I think there are two factors at work. 1. Indoctrination. Just like in the military, law enforcement organizations function off a sort of cohesive, collective mentality. Any attack on a member of the collective is an attack on the whole. Not to mention *wanting* to believe that the people you work with, and for, and trust with your life are worthy of that trust.
2. Fear. Given the attitude of most of the law enforcement community, can you imagine being the one to speak out? Can you imagine what your work environment would turn into? Again, these are people you need to trust with your life. And maybe it’s going too far to think they would let you down on purpose, but if you truly believe them capable of what they’re being accused of, is it really so far a stretch?
I’m not saying that this excuses anyone’s behavior. I don’t know how you fix it. But those are my personal theories.
Yeah that’s the thing that I don’t get. If I worked for a company that employed people who were regularly committing violent crimes, and my life depended on those same guys to protect me so that I could never acknowledge those crimes — that’s a job I would quit. I don’t want that job, I didn’t join the fucking mafia here.
Someone on my facebook feed was going on about all the police officers that are good and do their jobs with integrity, and I got no problem believing that there are a lot of cops who are good, but I’m not sure what “integrity” means if it’s not quitting a job rather than being an accessory to murder.
history tells us that a whole lot of good people can be convinced to do terrible things, so, sure, I can believe that.
True, but if everyone who still has the capacity to question fellow police/ their superiors quit, then how would anything ever change? There are people who speak out but often they are harassed off the force or killed or punished in some other way – I remember reading about a cop not long ago that got parked in a psychiatric ward by his bosses because he was gathering some kind of evidence on police corruption. It took him a week or two to convince the staff that he wasn’t delusional; someone really WAS after him.
I’m not trying to defend the police here. I am just saying that this kind of deep corruption is extremely hard to fight and that’s why there’s so much of it. I, myself, would quit the police force were I on it. But I won’t pretend that would help the victims of the police or contribute to clearing up the corruption because it wouldn’t. It would just make more room for the assholes to do whatever they wanted.
You fix it by forcing police to bear the consequences of their actions. If the city is just going to pay out millions of dollars in settlements to victims and the police suffer no direct losses, why would they stop?
On a more serious note, this article by Bayard Rustin from 1966 about the Watts riots was tweeted by Shani Hilton and it is something else how much it resonates today. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-wa…
“The McCone Report itself observes that “the rioters concentrated on food markets, liquor stores, clothing stores, department stores, and pawn shops.” The authors “note with interest that no residences were deliberately burned, that damage to schools, libraries, public buildings was minimal and that certain types of business establishments, notably service stations and automobile dealers, were for the most part unharmed.”
I have been wanting to put this into its historical context, thank you.
Historically speaking rioting is a very effective form of protest, and the more I learn about Baltimore’s PD, the more I am amazed by the rioters’ moderation.
Imma let you finish about Kenny Loggins but this is the best use of Kenny Loggins that ever Kenny Loggins’d:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/12/yea…
I had never heard of him before I read that, but it had me gasping for air. I love her book, but I’m a little bit disappointed that “The year Kenny Loggins ruined Christmas” wasn’t included.
However, I got all my hysterical laughter in the chapter about the recording parrot.
Were you also confused about how she structured that book? She left out most of her best (ie. most popular) stories, and I’m not sure if it’s because someone told her she had to include content that wasn’t on the website or something like that. I enjoy it anyway, but it wasn’t quite what I expected.
(Also, I almost died when I read that Kenny Loggins Christmas thing)
I love that Hyperbole & a Half. I can’t reread it now, though, because my coworkers will wonder about the howls of uncontrollable laughter emanating from my office.
Hi friends, from Baltimore City! We’re under martial law, hooray. The schools are closed today too.
If you are interested in helping but are far away:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-clean-up-…
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Help-Feed-and-…
http://operationhelporhush.org/donate/
If you are closer by and can come into the city:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1575563112714557/
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1t2ZVonrU2SW2kqxA…
ETA: for sloppy html on my part
Any idea if there’s any libraries or community centers open today to provide a safe space for displaced students, like the Ferguson library was doing? I’d like to donate to one, safe spaces seem like a priority right now to protect young people from the police… if not, I’ll give to OHOH.
(Sorry to put you on the spot for all of Baltimore! It’s hard to find clear news…)
No worries! All of the rec centers are on extended hours from 11am – 7pm. I know the 29th Street Community Center (some of the rec centers were turned over to private hands, it’s a long story) was looking for volunteers, you can learn more about them here: http://www.greaterhomewood.org/our-work/the-29th-…
Red Emma’s is opening their doors to kids. https://instagram.com/p/2BYzLque8J/
A local art gallery is working Baltimore Design School (an HS) to host stuff for kids: https://www.facebook.com/thecontemporarymuseum/po…
There’s more, but it’s honestly hard for me to keep track of everything going on right now.
One more thing: it looks like *all* of the Enoch Pratt Library branches are open today. https://www.facebook.com/theprattlibrary/photos/a…
Thank you so much! The double whammy of closing schools and shutting down public transit is horrifying, so I hope the library can provide some needed sanctuary…
ETA: you can specify that your donation should go towards “supporting neighborhood branches” so that might help funnel donations to where they’re most needed
Red Emma’s and Enoch Pratt. God I love Baltimore.
Red Emma’s is always on point when it comes to this stuff.
Thank you for the links. Spreading these.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this! So few of my other Baltimore friends are doing so and it’s been great to be able to share out.
I do not understand how closing the schools helps anything. Now you just have
a) a bunch of kids who rely on school for breakfast and lunch going hungry and
b) a bunch of teenagers, who are notoriously bad decision-makers, without somewhere to go during the day.
Not to mention it really seems like a way to punish the kids. I know that it is theoretically to protect students from potential violence and unrest on their way to/from school, but it seems really punitive and counter-productive.
I don’t know why they closed schools either. I wish I knew. Honestly, yesterday’s events were sparked by not understanding kids and escalating things with them. It’s just a fucking mess.
I’m thinking it would be better to declare school attendance optional. That way parents who want to keep their kids at home can do so without harm to the kids’ attendance/homework/whatever. And parents who need their kids to be in school can go to work without worry.
thanks for this
http://grooveshark.com/s/Here+It+Is+Again/1X33OD?…
http://www.salon.com/1999/10/28/internet_2/
“NO MORE FUCKING CHARACTERS.”
Hey, at some point you have to fill vacancies in the staff.
“is like a candle on the water”
I need someone to insert Pete’s Dragon into the Drogon scene from last week on the Meereen balcony.
As a displaced Marylander I am having all kinds of confusing feelings. The worst is that none of this is surprising.
How about someone declares a state of emergency over police violence?
Goddammit, Andrew Lesnie is dead. http://time.com/3838002/andrew-lesnie-lord-of-the…
Also:
“Just call it horizon
& you’ll never reach it.”
Just tell it you’ll meet it halfway…across the sky
(Hey, I didn’t make that juxtaposition, y’all did)
(Yeah, I like Kenny too. Who could actually HATE Kenny? That’d be like hating Daryl Hall.)
I was so sad reading that on my fb wall last night, really beautiful tributes from Jed Brophy, Weta Workshop, Ian McKellen, and now Peter’s post this morning.
WHAT noooooo
Oh no 🙁
No, now YOU’RE listening to “Konstantine” and getting nostalgic and maybe crying a little.
“It’s embarrassing to admit that during messy, adult heartbreak we often regress back to adolescence”
That’s a very interesting article and understandable. I’ve just never stopped listening to “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore” in the past twenty-five years so there’s no going back–I never left!
Sort of a commentary on the large cast of Game of Thrones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBxBXX8wU1Q
My personal breakup song for today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V4NoboSq6w
Pursuant to George R. R. Martin and his giant cast, I think it’s pretty funny: he was a TV writer for a long time, and he decided to write an epic novel series because that way there’d be no suits at the studio telling him they didn’t have the budget for dragons or weird cities or ice monsters or cast of ten thousand.
It’s a pretty good joke that they eventually brought the books back to TV, and then cut out all the extra people becase they didn’t have the budget fo a cast of ten thousand.
Anybody really getting verklempt about the impending end of Mad Men?
This last episode was outstanding. Stan & Peggy forever.
Steggy so hard.
yessss. I kinda don’t want to see any more of Stan/Peggy because at the end of the last episode I was so satisfied with them either getting together one day or being buddies forever.
Also, that was one of the funniest episodes in a long time. I was hoping for a standard-issue Pete hissy fit but that was GOLD.
“There are rumors flying around like bats out there!”
Damn it do I love Meredith.
Yes. I don’t know what I’ll do after Mad Men ends. That show has been a linchpin in my life for almost a decade and it is still consistently brilliant. That Stan/Peggy scene was incredible. Also I hate Joan’s new boyf. STAGE 5 CLINGER.
that dude! He throws up every red flag but Joan seems genuinely happy so I have no idea what to think.
The scene with her & Pete in the taxi was so sad, tho. You want to think Joan will land on her feet and then you remember all the roadblocks between her and a good career anywhere else.
Ugh, I know. Heartbreaking. 🙁
YES. Stan & Peggy!! That scene was SO GOOD.
My god, the two actors knocked that scene out of the park.
And “Peter, you can’t punch *everyone*!” Trudy, <3
THE KING ORDERED IT!
Man, I’ll miss Pete and his indignant exclamations.
me me me. 🙁
that last episode was just fantastic and I want to rewatch it over and over again. STAN AND PEGGY! PETE!!! And the almost total lack of Diana, thank god. To quote Tom and Lorenzo, she’s like a human Eeyore in a waitress cap.
Came across this mind-blowingly good article about Hatshepsut yesterday. http://laphamsquarterly.org/politics/woman-who-wo…
Just read it, and agree wholeheartedly. Love me some strong female leaders whose mere existence caused future leaders consternation. #winning
i also was unaware for a long time that kenny loggins was not an earnest children’s music singer-songwriter. i had a loggins & messina version of “house at pooh corner” on a cassette of children’s songs as a child and i think it cemented my love of wistful harmonies.
COUNT ALL THE BEES IN THE HIVE
CHASE ALL THE CLOUDS FROM THE SKYYYY
You thought he was basically Raffi?
That’s fascinating.
No, I’m not being snarky, that reminds me of why I hate Randy Newman because of when I encountered him.
Also I love harmony.
nah, not like raffi at all. raffi is all…bananaphones and baby belugas. kenny loggins sounded like he knew pain. he’s lost! there’s so much to be done! there’s something he wants to share but it’s hard to explain!
basically i thought loggins & messina was like…simon & garfunkel except for kids. “the house on pooh corner” just felt like the kids version of “bleecker street” to me, haha.
Oh wow. I love this Alternate Universe Loggins.
That whole cassette is basically the soundtrack of my early childhood. We moved long distances several times when I was a kid and my mom would put that on in the car when we drove all our stuff so my sister and I would fall asleep. I had no idea Kenny Loggins was famous for anything else until I was in my teens.
Oh and when I graduated from college and had to move all my stuff back home it was another 7 hour drive, and my mom drove out to help me pack up and at 6 in the evening we decided we would rather just turn around and drive home than stay the night and do it the next day, so at 11 pm I switched off with her and by 1 in the morning I was getting sooo tired but we were sooo close so instead of stopping my mom took out the Kenny Loggins lullabies and played them on LOUD so I WOULDN’T fall asleep and it was like a strange, satisfying bookend on my childhood.
That song makes me BAWL.
My brother is in the police academy right now and that is what I worry about most of all. I should probably worry about a whole host of things, but mostly I worry that my brother who has such a strong moral compass and wants to be a cop because he sees it as a way to protect people, my brother who drives me crazy with his compulsive rule following, will end up NOT speaking up and NOT changing things and it will happen so slowly and so far away from me that I won’t be able to see it to call him out on it.
He’s already pulled the #AllLivesMatter shit and a lot of relatives backed up him, so I’ve got my work to do re: awareness and privledge, but ugh. I’m scared. I so want him to be the guy that stands up to this shit.
We all want him to be the guy who stands up. But we want him to survive that stance. Sending thoughts of safety for your brother.
Thank you – I’m both incredibly proud of him and terrified for him, and I don’t know that that will ever change.
I hear somebody say “more great animal books on an upsetting day”?
http://us.macmillan.com/suryiaswims/drbhagavanant…
oh my god INTERSPECIES SWIM BUDDIES. I had no idea how much I needed to see that.
And tigers like swimming so much he’s just like “an orangutan? Sure, whatever…”
That is a dog.
Click the link, that’s just the cover.
Ok, fine.
No pressure, but it’s great, and I encourage you to find this book in your local library and enjoy how Roscoe the hound is the Felix to Saryia’s Oscar (see also: photos of their book signing. That’s a dignified dog, but he still hangs with his buddy)
NO MORE FUCKING CHARACTERS!
How are they supposed to produce potential heirs then?
If anyone needs a distraction, here are vintage “Occupations for Women,” including both King of the Amazons (not remotely an Amazon) and Athlete (definitely an Amazon): http://www.ellomennopee.com/2013/09/vintage-occup…
Isn’t that the shit? Kate Beaton linked that on her Tumblr.
(if you read Hark! A Vagrant check out her Tumblr if you’ve not)
Yes, that’s where I first saw it! She posts such great stuff.
Damn, those are some thighs. She could probably lift a fully-grown man above her head.
I am so pleased by the thigh sizes on all these ladies.
White People
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/246317/whole-food…
“pumped for turkey and cheese”
Click the link, that's just the cover.
No pressure, but it's great, and I encourage you to find this book in your local library and enjoy how Roscoe the hound is the Felix to Saryia's Oscar (see also: photos of their book signing. That's a dignified dog, but he still hangs with his buddy)
Holy crap. I was like, huh, I don't think that Something Corporate song. Then I listened to it on youtube.
Yup, I totally know that song. All the lyrics. How did I forget this?
CAUSE WE ALL NEED A LITTLE MORE ROOM…TO LIVEEEE
I was pissed I missed the Clarity 10x, but managed to catch the Bleed American 10x. Sadly the Futures 10x didn't make its way around here, but I'm so glad it was great!!