I will always remember that the call to action initiating the movement was organic – that there was no organizing committee, no charismatic leader, no church group or school club that led us to the streets. It is powerful to remember that the movement began as everyday people came out of their homes and refused to be scared into silence by the police. It is powerful, too, to remember the many people who came to stand with us in Ferguson, the many people who were radicalized in the streets of St Louis and then took that deep spirit of resistance to their own cities and towns, leading to sustained unrest across the United States.
*
Oh, also, Ferguson is still happening right this minute:
DeRay Mckesson, Johnetta Elzie and Kayla Reed were among those detained during a protest at the St. Louis Justice Center, which houses the Department of Justice, in downtown St. Louis. There protesters staged a sit-in as part of a planned “day of resistance” marking the one-year anniversary of the fatal police shooting of teenager Michael Brown. Also among those detained were Cornel West and the Rev. Osagyefo Sekou.
*
Dan Callahan (Mr Nikki Chung) on Jeanne Eagles, an early actress we don’t know enough about:
There is little visible technique in Eagels’s performance in The Letter, no distance to her reckless playing, so that when Leslie is flaming out it is clear that she herself is flaming out, and this links Eagels to a later 1950s Method actress like Kim Stanley, another stage star who finally had to retreat because she couldn’t sustain the level of emotional intensity she liked for long. Some people might know Eagels mainly because Kim Novak played her in a highly fictionalized biopic in 1957. (Candy Darling keeps referencing this Novak movie in Paul Morrissey’s Women in Revolt {1971}.) The shy and recessive and very sexy Novak tries hard in that film, but she can’t capture even a fraction of what Eagels puts across on screen in The Letter or what she reportedly had on stage. Unquestionably an artist for whom chaos ruled, Eagels saw herself clearly. “I’m the greatest actress in the world and the greatest failure,” she once said. “And nobody gives a damn.”
*
Ugh, what a disaster.
*
Our own Gretchen McCulloch on women as language disruptors:
A pair of linguists, Terttu Nevalainen and Helena Raumolin-Brunberg at the University of Helsinki, conducted a study that combed through 6,000 personal letters written between 1417 and 1681. The pair looked at fourteen language changes that occurred during this period, things like the eradication of ye, the switch from “mine eyes” to “my eyes,” and the change from hath, doth, maketh to has, does, makes.
In 11 out of the 14 changes, they found that female letter-writers were changing the way they wrote faster than male letter-writers. In the three exceptional cases where the men were ahead of the women, those particular changes were linked to men’s greater access to education at the time. In other words, women are reliably ahead of the game when it comes to word-of-mouth linguistic changes.
*
The history of black lipstick:
If you can’t live forever, your work (and beauty) still might be able to. The sparkle of Hollywood in the 1920s saw black lipstick, too, though more for reasons logistical rather than symbolic. This is the era of Mae Murray, Clara Bow, and Max Factor: old-school film sirens and the makeup artist that helped make them stars. In this context, black lipstick came about as a way to fix a problem with movie lighting. At this time, makeup was primarily heavy greasepaint and was typically used in theater productions, and Factor, a Polish Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1904, came up with a more blendable version in primary colors, calling it “flexible greasepaint.”
*
The most important review of the bad True Detective s2 season finale, which I watched all of.
*
Kid’s a goshdarn genius:
Barbusca improvised one of his best lines in the series.
Though scheduling prevented many of the performers from appearing in scenes together, Thomas and the other kid actors worked regularly with Michael Showalter, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, and, of course, David Wain. The older comedians helped the younger stars riff and ad-lib, according to Barbusca. “We kind of played around with it,” he explains. “It was really fun with them because they’re really experienced, they’ll give you tips and stuff, they just keep going with you. They were all really awesome.” Specifically, Thomas tells us one of Drew’s best moments — yelling his so-simple-it’s-funny justification for bullying, “I just like doing stuff like that!” after Kevin ran crying out the door — was ad-libbed on the spot.
*
Here is another picture of my friend Carrie’s puppy:
*
Roxane talked to TNC (glorious subtweet of FDB here by TNC):
RG: How do you handle such lofty comparisons like those, for example, to James Baldwin?
TC: I think that bothers other people a lot more than it bothers me. It’s fairly clear there will be another Baldwin. I take a great deal of inspiration from his work. I think Toni Morrison’s opinion is an opinion for one book. It is not a guarantee on the next book.
*
A fascinating mixed bag of deleted comments today:
*
*
*
Tags: feminism, link roundup, the internet
That 3rd deleted commenter really gets it.
Jonathan Swift would be so proud.
New political platform: Eat the men.
“Recycle a man, save a tree.”
My mother said stuff like that many many times … she’s dead now, does that still count?
“Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” would just blow his fuckin’ mind.
Yessss always here for tiptree
From 3rd Deleted Commenter’s lips (keyboard?) to God’s ears.
“I think I’m going to go out right now and find a guy to kick in the testicles” should be added to our ongoing list of Toast merch wishes. I see this one best on a mug.
I would absolutely buy one of those mugs and take it to faculty meetings. (Because I once went to a meeting with the Dean not understanding why he was looking at me funny until someone pointed out afterward that I was using my “I HATE EVERYTHING” mug.)
I just feel really happy for Mallory that someone finally understands the true, albeit subtle, message of her Western Art pieces.
Do you ever read something by someone trying to be sarcastic but it goes on about twelve sentences too long until it crosses over from “ha ha!” to “oh….Kay….” and then all the way into “please stop talking?”
I thought that being finished with university meant that I was done with that but I guess not.
I read an OKCupid profile just like that yesterday, except there wasn’t any “ha ha” at all in the first place. If we measured excessive length by “how long one of these things ought to be, rightly”, it was one of the longest things in Creation.
Are you acquainted at all with science fiction and/or comics fandom?
i’m glad he went on and on and on. he fleshed out a Very Solid Plan. i shall copy this into my notebook and refer to it often.
(he had my heart at “so we can watch them suffer”. aaaaw <3 )
brb. kicking men in testicles.
Wow, those were his own burps in the contest. Kid’s got talent.
i am astonished that those burps were real. he is truly the burp king.
Damn, I think I need to write about Jeanne now, or someone else in that general field of history. That’s an intriguing description – and an interesting backstory, and a tragic death that smells a little of the classic Hollywood whitewash coverup.
I don’t think there was really any whitewashing or covering-up– it was pretty widely known that she had long-standing problems with substance abuse (which had led to the end of her theatrical career, and a very public ban from appearing on stage).
Ok so I read the mine waste leak link as ‘wine spill colours river’ and I thought ‘Yes, that is a waste, how sad.’
I still can’t believe they’re actually charging Wesley Lowery and Ryan Reilly a year later. What the fuck.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp…
Also Sarah Jeong on why Google is now called Alphabet, which I thought was a joke at first yesterday http://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-google-is-re…
Yes. Men suck. They are just the worst thing to ever happen to humanity.
Finally somebody gets it.
True D! Comments & thoughts & secrets & lies about the finale downthread!
I would be lying if I thought this was a successful season of the show, or a worthy successor to the Harrelson/McConaughey atom bomb of the first season. I found the finale especially was so oddly paced, and so had so many just weird moments (Vince Vaughan getting taunted in the desert by scary black youths was a misstep, probably), that it was hard to watch without laughing.
I feel like the show, overall, wanted to be this sprawling, gangland, “everyone is corrupt,” California-noir thriller, but it was too big and too dumb. And I could have done with like 700% fewer expository monologues, 100% more Cary Fukunaga, and a bunch more bird heads.
Not gonna lie, “fuck your shit up, Larry Bird!” as a taunt to Vince Vaughn made me laugh way more than it should’ve.
I haven’t seen any episodes of this season of True Detective, but I dislike Vince Vaughn and now I have some regrets about skipping out entirely.
This episode also gave you an opportunity to picture ol’ VV in a white suit (!) with a red rose in the lapel (!!), which is deeply, gratifyingly, jarringly silly
Unfortunately I don’t think this season was good enough for you to waste 8.5 hours of your life to hate-watch VV. [That was one of the better lines, IMO, in the episode.] That being said, if you like watching him either act badly or struggle with shitty dialogue (the jury is out on how to describe his performance), then watch away!
I am Team Shitty Dialogue. Vaughan definitely bore the brunt of Pizzolatto’s moony gangsterisms.
I am too. I’ve also seen the argument that in the first four episodes, we were seeing Frank trying to be something he’s not (“Not a Gangster”) and that’s why his dialogue and his body language was so stilted. I don’t know if they’re trying to give Vaughn/the director/Pizzolatto more credit than they deserve, but I kind of like that idea.
I don’t know why, but his dialogue in the last three episodes simply became comical to me. There were some (unintentionally?) hilarious lines.
On another note: was anyone else as annoyed that Frank (and everyone else) is just cool with throwing around racial and homophobic slurs for funsies? I mean, I get that we’re talking about a criminal network but I do find it curious that “we” accept slurs as part of the dialogue conventions of a genre.
Yes! I think we are supposed to like Frank in the end–Ray proclaims him “not a bad guy” or whatever–so it seemed an odd choice for the character to be openly racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic.
So many unintentionally hilarious lines. My favorite Frank line of the finale was his “Why?” to the guys in the car (Whoever those guys were. Were we supposed to know who those guys were?) I snorted aloud at that one.
My favorite VV line this episode was ” You’re a cop. A lady cop”. And then to justify it by saying he meant she was dignified!
Blue balls in your heart!!!
RIP terrible dialogue. I enjoyed you more than I should have.
Did you see Seth Meyer’s “gameshow” “fortune cookie or true detective”? They had so much fun with the dialogue, and the intro was great too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKTpW4n2XgQ&s…
Thank you for that! Love that the Most Depressing Singer in the World was there AND a bird head!
I have not seen any of True Detective, but the comments that people have made about this season make it sound like Season 2 of Twin Peaks as compared to the first season.
I could probably vent my spleen about plot contrivances in TrueD allll day, but since you brought up bird heads: UGH. OK your murderer drove all around California all day wearing a bizarrely realistic Sex Bird Head, and no other motorists made note of this. Then your murderer kept the bizarre Sex Bird Head in his house, fully visible from a window, also next to the shotgun and shells he used to assault a cop.
I mean, I know the premise of the show was that the Vinci police didn’t want the case solved, but I feel like it would be hard NOT to solve this one. Like questioning his secretary just the tiniest bit would have probably cracked it in about 45 seconds.
(Vince Vaughan getting taunted in the desert by scary black youths was a misstep, probably)
What WAS that? Did they wander in from an early 90s after school special about “urban” youths?
Ray and the transponder bothered me so much. He just participated in a heist in which he gunned down several people, but he’s just too precious to steal a car. Instead, I will half-heartedly jab at this thing with a knife, shrug, and drive to my doom.
I loved Ray’s “disguises.” No one will notice me in this oversized cowboy hat and sunglasses! I’m not going to cut or wash my hair though, that’s taking things too far.
And why did he drive into the redwoods (and how and where, wasn’t he down by LA? whatever) instead of, like, turning himself in at the nearest federal courthouse? Fighting a frame-up job in court would be better than getting gunned down in the woods, right?
I interpreted that whole sequence as him working through his entire gangster career and confronting everyone who gave him shit or who he regretted dealing with. Which explains his dad and the.. guy he had to kill (?) but those young Black kids were just giving him shit for being tall? Like, he never even mentions having to deal with Black gangs nor does he indicate how that resolved itself (did he steal their turf? did they kick his ass? WTF). Maybe he got drove out all of the Black gangs in Vinci and that’s why we barely see any Black people in this LA metro town?
It would’ve been better if a younger Osip was taunting him, or some of the other gangs we had seen earlier taunted him, but nope! Just gotta get some random Black boys to show up and taunt him late 80s/early 90s style!
Bless your lil’ heart, third commenter.
Excuse me, Wash Post and NY Times, That spill is not the EPA’s fault. Here is my friend Grace’s blog post (she is a physicist and scientist in CO) on whose fault this really is: http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-leg…
Yes, thank you. I’m so angry that everyone is laying this at the EPA’s feet. They didn’t make the mess, they were attempting to clean up the mess that industry created, and it went sideways.
Thanks for the link.
The WaPost got it right. It was the LAT and NYT that got it wrong.
“Mr Nikki Chung”
I still can’t believe you wrote that, this guy is going to be so confused
……… is she referencing a person who is NOT your consort? because it seems straightforward to me. ; )
I used to call the husband of one of my professors Mr. Dr. Griffiths. I don’t know how funny he thought it was but I sort of didn’t/don’t care.
According to commenter number 3 that’s the way all men will be named now, so he’d better get used to it.
According to commenter number 3 he’ll be on the way to a concentration camp any moment now so getting used to being “Mr. Nikki Chung” is the least of his concerns.
Offred … Ofglen … Ofnikki
decredible
I… think this person might have been trying to communicate “not credible”? Maybe?
sure it’s fine to entertain a thought
That’s a relief.
plus you get a little extra dough in the pockets
Or you could write whatever the hell you damn well feel like for a niche website you co-own, despite the fact that it’s 2014 and you’re discussing a fan theory from a full decade ago, figuring that the clicks will come anyway if you’re passionate about what you do and who can predict these things anyway, and then a year and a half after writing the post it can still be popular enough to get people trying to make absurd comments with surprisingly high frequency, and the time it takes that person to write the long, rambling comment will only add to “time on site” numbers and then you can use that absurd comment to amuse your loyal readers without even having to generate new content.
I mean, if we’re looking for a little extra dough in the pockets.
***
siblings of Harry Potter
HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF DECENCY, SIR?
This was an amazing and excellent response!
That guy, though.
instead of twisted sir
“Sir? Sir! MY DEAR TWISTED SIR”
decredible
If only there were a word that meant “not credible” already in existence.
while preventing confusion
Yes, I can see that you are deeply committed to preventing confusion.
“Decredible” sort of implies that it might once have become credible, but has now passed back into being incredible?
“I used to think Harry Potter was brilliant journalism, but after this piece I am beginning to have doubts!”
…yeah, this seems likely. Alternatively, it could be like “denote,” where the “de” doesn’t substantively change the meaning at all.
“Harry Potter is brilliant journalism, as this piece on Dumbledore being a time-traveling Ron has only convinced me further!”
I’m pretty sure that the important thing here is ethics in Harry Potter journalism.
#NotAllWizards
It seems to me like the commenter is a non-native speaker of English. Anyone else get that vibe?
I’ve gone back and forth on this one. “decredible” is easy to imagine a non-native using, but then you’ve got “outlandish”. Yes the “dough in the pockets” seems like a construction that non-natives might use, but then we’ve got “Keep it simple stupid”…………
I think the thing I’d like to gift all fandoms everywhere with is an understanding that it is OK to use punctuations sometimes.
No cast off the shackles of punctuation those useless dots those whoreson commas ugh I really want to put an exclamation point there but it would mark me as a hypocrite sigh OK sentence done
I’ve heard bold and all caps work ok and are consistent with a no-punctuation lifestyle, if you’re into that.
imalsogoingtodropspaces
I went a solid week without a functional spacebar once. It was great.
LOOK AT THAT PUPPY
That EAR! Those eyes! My heart!
Do you think that bible-quoting commenter found The Toast through his “goatse” google alert?
Deleted Comment #3 boggles me in so many ways, but I’m hung up on how it was a response to “Women Listening to Men in Art History.” Goodness. Doesn’t take much to offend, does it? That post, though excellent, doesn’t even make the honorable mentions of my “Great Moments in Misandry on the Toast” bookmarks.
If the length of his comment is any indication, Deleted Commenter #3 is convinced that everything men say is very important for women to pay attention to.
Must be nice to be able to be so fragile, right?
If he ever stumbles across Misandrist Lullabies his head is going to explode. How do we make this happen?
“How do we make this happen?”
You are a Toast after my own heart.
I would love to see the content of your bookmark populate a a right column link!
NEW JOANNA NEWSOM ALBUM COMING OUT IN OCTOBER!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky9Ro9pP2gc
I HAVE WAITED LO THESE MANY YEARS
HAPPY FURIOSA DAY EVERYONE
(Fury road is streaming on amazon and presumably elsewhere as of today)
Ahhhhh! So infuriating to be an employed person at work today!
ETA: Oh wait, I realize you mean it’s available to stream anytime one chooses, with a subscription, rather than livestreaming — aha, that makes more sense. Well then, it is a good day regardless! Or I should say —
WHAT A LOVELY DAY
It does cost money on Amazon, even if you have Prime. I dunno where else it is (iTunes? Other?) but I stayed up until 12:30 last night just to watch a teeny bit before collapsing.
Your priorities are commendable, staying up late to cheer at midnight for the beginning of Furiosa Day.
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*shrieks* Every day can be Furiosa Day now! (Assuming I can stream it in the UK, anyway.)
Shiny and Chrome!
That language article is so! interesting! I can’t wait to pass on all of my offensive southern california teen-girl speech patterns to the next generation of businessmen.
“i just like doing stuff like that” actually made me gasp aloud. i was like, he’s evil.
Women are the best at obtaining new skills, it is known. Look at this yam: you dunk it in a stream, and it is not covered with sand. MAGIC. Can any of the alpha dudes do that? Nope, they’re still eating grit. My daughter’s best friend’s little sister figured it out, and now we’re all doing it – the only dudes who get it are the ones who learned it from their moms. Sad. Sad to be a dude.
The inventor, she’s got a thing with grain where she throws it into the steam and then grabs it? Somehow? And the grit is gone? That one is a little advanced for me, I’ll admit it.
Anyway, that language thing is cool too, I guess.
Yes, women are best. Yes, it is known. ::solemn nodding::
I would absolutely buy one of those mugs and take it to faculty meetings. (Because I once went to a meeting with the Dean not understanding why he was looking at me funny until someone pointed out afterward that I was using my "I HATE EVERYTHING" mug.)
Toast! You have gifted to me all this wonderful research from Nevalainen that will be wildly useful for my work, but that I might have taken years to find on my own! This is very exciting! I’ve already ILL’ed EVERYTHING I COULD FIND.
Toast! You have gifted to me all this wonderful research from Nevalainen that will be wildly useful for my work, but that I might have taken years to find on my own! This is very exciting! I've already ILL'ed EVERYTHING I COULD FIND.