The Purity Myth Trailer, Solo Baseball in Space, The Muppets’ Nine Inch Snails

Here is a list of awesome, interesting, amazing, and incredible things I’ve come across this week:

The Purity Myth Trailer

Have you read The Purity Myth? Yes or no, you’ll definitely want to check out the new film now on DVD.

“Jessica Valenti, author and founder of Feministing, penned The Purity Myth in response to cultural pressure women face to remain virgins until a handsome prince deflowers them after an elaborate, expensive ceremony.

The film visits the places the book visited… From the creepy father-daughter “purity balls” where young women promise their dads that they won’t let anyone’s penis inside of them until God says it’s okay to the fearmongering but charismatic pro-virginity speakers who claim a link between female sexual activity and sterility, parts of the film (like parts of the book) would be hilarious if they weren’t so scary.” [Jezebel]

This is how you play baseball in space

Have no one to play a quick game of ball with? In space, you can cover all of the bases yourself.

“Life on the International Space Station has its ups and downs (well, technically its ups and ups or downs and downs). Thanksgiving dinner comes in bags, but the views are undeniably ravishing. Another added perk of microgravity? You can play baseball by yourself. Allow ISS astronaut Satoshi Furukawa to demonstrate.” [io9.com]

Nine Inch Snails on The Muppets

With the latest Muppets movie creating renewed popularity around the characters, films, and show, links of older material have been popping up a lot lately. Nine Inch Snails is one I had never seen before and definitely enjoyed.

Take a look:

[via @LiisaLadouceur]

I Recommend Amphetamine Heart by Liz Worth on Advent Book Blog

Check out my recommendation for Amphetamine Heart by Liz Worth on the Advent Book Blog.

Amphetamine Heart is a debut poetry collection that wanders through that disoriented time between insomnia and blackouts, drunkenness and desperation, with all of the possibilities that can sweep you away when you’re trapped in impossible places. Infused with punk and metal, it’s a collection that’s as hard and raw as the music and “party culture” it’s influenced by…

Read the rest of my recommendation and find out where you pick up the book by clicking here.

 

H&M Does Dragon Tattoo, New Canadian Tattoo Magazine, Death of TV, and First Kiss (Ever!) on Wedding Day

Here is a list of awesome, interesting, amazing, (and awkward!) things I’ve come across this week:

H&M’s “Dragon Tattoo” Collection

When an author crafts the image and look of their characters, it can be a thorough and painstaking process of delving into their true nature and finding the best way to exhibit it outwardly.

I’m not sure how many consider how the style of their character will look on H&M racks.

Especially when we’re talking about Lisbeth Salander.

“David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is one of the most anticipated films of the year; beyond the murder-heavy, not-exactly-popcorn-material plot [...] a lot of the hype is due to The Girl herself.  After months of speculation over who would play asocial hacker Lisbeth Salander, the first photos of a black-haired, pierced, fully-transformed and hauntingly strange-beautiful Rooney Mara appeared– and it was clear that Salander had some serious icon potential.

Stylist Trish Summerville told W Magazine she was look[ing] at “old punk photographs” and used a dark, muted color palette (like the almost-grey-scale urban environment of the film) when creating Salander’s signature style.  Summerville says Salander’s clothes are meant to look lived-in, that “her jackets serve as armor to shield her from the world.”" [BUST]

Canadian tattoo magazine to be launched this spring

This could be good. (Please be good.)

“Focusing on Canadian tattoo artists, body modification artists and alternative lifestyle, Xalt will be the first print magazine of its kind, shining the spotlight on Canada’s unique talent and striving to exalt artforms often considered to be fringe. [...] through in-depth interviews and stunning photography – an inside look at established and up-and-coming artists, as well as give them a taste of alt lifestyles, such as roller derby, punk etc. Also included will be fashion and lifestyle products.” [Canadian Magazines]

The Death of Television May Be Just 5 Years Away

Do you watch TV anymore? Or do you do most of your viewing online?

“It could take as little as five years for television as we know it — broadcast and cable — to enter its final death throes. (…) The culprit: young people and new households who just aren’t interested in signing up for paid cable and satellite TV service.”

They say we can tell what will happen to traditional television by looking at what happened to the phone. “The collapse of the telephone took just five years.” [Business Insider]

“Virgin Diaries” Pair Share Their First (Unbelievably Awkward) Kiss On Their Wedding Day

Are you ready to watch the most painfully awkward thing EVER?!! Seriously, Ryan & Shanna (from TLC’s “Virgin Diaries“) claim they have not only never had sex, but they’ve also never even kissed. Actually, he says he’s never kissed any woman on the lips.

And yes, the kiss is just as bad as you’re thinking it will be. Actually, worse. Much worse.

To make it even more painful to watch, they talk about how they think their first time having sex will happen — step by step. “…We’ll both have our robes on. And then we’ll slowly take our robes off and then do foreplay…” [toofab]

*The video I had here was replaced with an ad, so I’ve taken it out. Click here to check out the video.*

Artist Sex, Land-Walking Octopus, Mini Bronte, Food Companies that Serve You Wood, and Marriage Equality

Reclining Nude, 1928, by Suzanne Valadon (artist and model for (and sometimes lover of) artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Puvis de Chavannes, and Degas).

Here is a list of awesome, interesting, amazing, and incredible things I’ve come across this week:

Do Great Artists Have More Sex?

“I don’t think that you can argue with the idea that great artists have great (if by “great,” you mean prolific) love lives. (…) What I take issue with is the idea that female artists can’t enjoy the same “fruits” of their labor. (…) Do great artists have more sex? Probably. Do women artists have less sex? Maybe. Or maybe they’re still conditioned by society to keep it a secret” [Big Think via Violet Blue]
(see above: Reclining Nude, 1928, by Suzanne Valadon)

Octopus Walks on Land at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

It actually walks quite far following the people as they back away and gives them a crab before jetting back to the water. Amazing.

Credit card-sized manuscript by 14-year-old Charlotte Bronte expected to auction for over £300,000

Credit card-sized manuscript by 14-year-old Bronte

“Its 19 pages are crammed with more than 4,000 words — short stories, news, even advertisements — discernible only by magnifying glass.” [NPR.org]

15 Food Companies that Serve You ‘Wood’

I remember seeing this a few months ago and noticed the link circulating again this week. It’s worth taking a look if you haven’t seen it (or even if you have). You might have a few of these products in your kitchen. [Food Freedom]

And the best thing I came across this week:

Possibly the Most Beautiful Ad for Marriage Equality We’ve Seen

Certainly is. “GetUp! in Australia released a commercial on Thursday from the perspective of one half of a gay couple in love. It builds to the big moment that they want legalized — a proposal to get married.” [Advocate.com] (also below)

The Lingerie Addict Boasts ALL Varieties of Beautiful Bodies

The Lingerie Addict

I love beautiful things. This is no secret. I even love beautiful things you might not necessarily see. Or beautiful things meant to only be seen by certain people or at specific times.

This is one of the many reasons I love lingerie. And one of the best places to find beautiful lingerie is on The Lingerie Addict.

Treacle and her team feature lovely pieces for every taste. They also feature pieces for (and pictures of) bodies of every shape and size.

This is one of the reasons I LOVE The Lingerie Addict.

This is also why I was disappointed to see Treacle tweet: “People who send me nasty e-mails because every single post on my blog isn’t dedicated to the full busted woman make my head hurt. Literally.”

Seriously, people? WTF?!

My response to Treacle (and The Lingerie Addict team): “That sucks. Just know that more of us are smiling and loving how you post about ALL sizes/shapes of women!”

And it’s true. Who needs another nasty source of misinformation forcing the idea that if we don’t fit into one particular idea of a beautiful body, we’re somehow not sexy.

And no one needs idiots emailing to say that only full-busted women should be pictured wearing lingerie.

So please keep doing what you’re doing, lovely ladies of The Lingerie Addict. Women (and I’m sure men) of all sizes and shapes and cups and curves (or lack thereof) thank you!

Examples of the beautiful women featured on The Lingerie Addict:

From Naughty Bits: Lingerie News from Around the Web-11/20/11

From The Lingerie Addict Featured on The Washington Post!

From 66 Bras for Curvy, Full Bust, and DD+ Cup Women

From 66 Bras for Curvy, Full Bust, and DD+ Cup Women

From Grade A-Cup: Easy Answers to Small Bust Questions

Mary Wollstonecraft’s image projected onto the side of the British Houses of Parliament

Mary Wollstonecraft has always been a figure of interest. An eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women’s rights, she stirred up controversy through her beliefs and choices during her lifetime and beyond. Unconventional relationships, radical views on marriage and the status of women, as well as published works that challenged the society in which she existed, were some of the ways she riled the minds of those around her.

During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children’s book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education. She suggests that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagines a social order founded on reason. [Wikipedia]

Now there is an effort to recognize Wollstonecraft by erecting a statue of her, and last week, in order to raise awareness (and funds), her image was projected onto the side of the British Houses of Parliament.

She has been called the mother of British feminism, so it is perhaps fitting that her image was blasted onto the building known in some parts as the mother of all parliamentsMary Wollstonecraft‘s image was projected onto the Palace of Westminster during Wednesday’s rush hour to raise money for another image – the first ever statue of the author of the Vindication of the Rights of Women.

Campaigners are aiming to raise £240,000 to pay for the statuary on Newington Green, in north London, near the site of Wollstonecraft’s former home and the school where the radical 18th-century campaigner taught. They also spent two hours handing out leaflets and promoting the fact that 77 supportive MPs have already signed a petition, including Jeremy Corbyn MP, who masterminded the turning out of the lights overlooking the Thames. [The Guardian]

Check out the full article at The Guardian.

Zombie Boy Tattoo Cover-Up Transformation (video)

This isn’t the first time I’ve been wow’d by tattoo cover-up products, but this is by FAR the most extreme and most captivating example I’ve witnessed.

Rico Genest (a.k.a. Zombie Boy) is a Montreal-based fashion model who is best known for the striking tattoos that cover the majority of his body and his face that give him the appearance of a rotted corpse. Over the past 6 years Rico has been working with tattoo artist Frank Lewis, spending thousands of dollars to create his striking look. Earlier this year he had the chance to grapple with Lady GaGa in the ‘Born This Way‘ video. – Randy Matheson

Rico is featured in ‘Go Beyond the Cover‘, an amazing demonstration created by Montreal’s Tuxedo Agency of L’Oreal’s Dermablend skin coverage products. I’ve watched this video multiple times and I could still check it out again and again.

Take a look (I’ve also included a before & after pic below, but I highly suggest watching the video first):

“no artist is your bitch.” – Amanda Palmer

Artwork by Cassandra Long

Yesterday I noticed a tweet from Amanda Palmer linking to her response to criticism of her latest project and addresses the “catch 22: every artist and musician has to deal with this paradox of “demands” from different folks and the only answer has always been (in my humble opinion) to stick to your OWN personal schedule, make what YOU feel like making WHEN you feel like making it and let everyone sort out their own shit. 

you’re NEVER, ever ever going to make everybody (or anybody) else truly happy. you can try. it’ll bite you in the ass. at the end of the day, you only really answer to yourself.”

I read this with a, “Holy shit, thank you!”

After addressing the specific issue surrounding her current musical experiment “8 songs in 8 hours” (with Neil Gaiman, Ben Folds, and Damian Kulash), she moves on to the broader fact:

in the age of total connection with the audience, the audience really does get very bossy. 

i have some news for you: it doesn’t work.

you don’t EVER have to buy an album you don’t like, and you don’t EVER have to blindly support an artist.

no artist is your bitch. no artist owes you anything.

there’s a long, rich, inevitable history of people wanting The Expected and artists turning around and feeding them Something Different.not just different and unexpected content, but unexpected delivery systems, media formats, colors, lengths, tones, the whole nine yards.

but this is what artists DO. 

if artists simply played it safe and repeated themselves to please their fans, musicians would still be banging a couple of rocks together to the collective grunting approval of the crowd.

but let artists do what they feel like, let them follow their bizarre (and often totally incomprehensible) muse and the results are often pretty phenomenal. not all the time, not every time, but enough of the time.

enough to keep the heart of humanity running on something other than practicality and survival.

As an artist (in whatever way/form/medium) the possibilities of where to go with your work can seem endless and daunting. Having other people (even “fans”) feeling entitled to force their opinions into that process can make it unbearable.

I’m all for listening to ideas and am open to advice, but in the proper way and in the proper context. I also reserve the right to ignore your ideas if I think they’re crap or misguided. Just like you are free to ignore my art if it’s not to your liking.

I could go on, but why don’t you check out how Amanda said it instead? Here you go, click here. You can also check out their “8 songs in 8 hours” release here.

Mismatched Socks and Rainbow Legwarmers (a.k.a. things that make me feel understood and loved)

These are my mismatched socks and rainbow legwarmers. The socks are meant to be mismatched – they came that way, along with a third completely different sock.

The socks and legwarmers are both unbelievably cool, in my opinion. They are perfectly me.

Right down to the fact that I technically hate socks – so these are ideal since I can just grab what I need on those rare occasions I have to wear them (like today when glass broke everywhere and I was terrified to step on a little unseen shard).

Read more

Where’s Waldo? Found In Famous Art!

I’ve searched for Waldo here. I’ve hunted for him there. I’ve pursued him on fantastic journeys and everywhere else his heart lead him.

But it never occurred to me to look for him in Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory, Johaness Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, Andy Warhol’s The Marilyn Prints, or Frida Khalo’s The Little Deer.

Although I’m pretty sure eventually it would have occurred to me to look for him in The Last Supper.

Read more

Retro Twinkie, Twinkie Sushi, and Twinkie the Kid!

Anyone who knows me knows I love amazingly unique and/or kitschy items. Which is why my super-cool mom brings me incredibly awesome things like…

A Twinkie Baking Set!

Includes everything you need to make your own Twinkies! Twinkie baking pan, Twinkie icing inserter thingy, a recipe book filled with Twinkie-licious cuisine, and even a Twinkie holder shaped like “Twinkie the Kid” (who I can’t bring to take out of the original plastic):

Read more