In honor of 4/20, I wanted to write something about how the low price of kush in California, even when you factor in doctor visits, demonstrates what happens when the market right-prices healthcare. I’m indifferent to marijuana, on a personal level, but I believe strongly in what it…( Read more )
I loved The Young Ones. I actually thought they were an MTV creation and the existence of that show was one of the many reasons MTV was awesome. I rarely saw my people represented in film and, despite its over-the-top comedy, The Young Ones reflected my real life experience far more than most…( Read more )
The most excellent Liz Henry, who has her finger on the pulse, just posted Kelly Martin Broderick’s My Picture Was Stolen And Turned Into A Fat-Shaming Anti-Feminist Meme On Facebook article from XOJane to Facebook. I believe XOJane was founded by Jane Pratt of Sassy and Jane magazine fame. Sassy was ground-breaking in its depictions of teen female sexuality, instantly making Seventeen look like a relic from a vanished time. Jane even wrote up Blue Blood’s BarelyEvil very positively, so I’m warmly disposed towards them. I’m probably even a little extra-disposed towards liking what Liz Henry writes because I thought she was hot when we had food or drinks or whatever at SXSW some years ago.
So I’m not saying that I oppose all beauty standards. Human beings base some of the way they socialize on visual cues. I think it is part of the path away from oppression for oppressed populations to assert alternative beauty standards.
As a publisher, I am well-aware that eventually somebody has to pay the bills. Juicy Couture wants to sell to women. Women, including feminist women, tend to buy a lot of beauty products. XO Jane has a largely female audience. I get why there are Juicy Couture adverts for Viva La Juicy or whatever on there. I do get it.
But, when I clicked over to My Picture Was Stolen And Turned Into A Fat-Shaming Anti-Feminist Meme On Facebook and was whacked with the Juicy Noir pop-up advertisement, it just really made me wince.
PS The notion that Facebook thinks it is fine to make derivative works from someone else’s image and get Facebook extra traffic with those derivative works . . . well, it is probably fortunate that I did not carry on the family tradition and go to law school or I’d be spending all my time and resources on pro bono work.
A very cool byproduct of working on our California Deathrock book Kickstarter is that it has helped me and Forrest Black get back in touch with a lot of people we had sort of lost track of. When general contact things went from nightclubs and zines and neighborhood punk stores to LJ to MySpace to Twitter to Facebook . . . well, a lot of people have different names on different systems and in different environments and, at a certain point, one gets a bit of SNS fatigue. It just seems so exhausting to have to reconnect over and over.
To make myself a bit easier to find, here are some of my various accounts:
https://twitter.com/#!/AmeliaG
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=714452413
http://www.blueblood.net/boards/member.php/3-Amelia-G
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliag
Let’s be in touch!
Facebook’s algorithm is truly terrible as figuring out which posts I want to read.
Facebook seems to be certain that my totally favorite thing in the world is when people — who I otherwise think are fine humans — spout high school sports team style, un-nuanced, and poorly-considered, contentious political opinions. Facebook thinks I am totally uninterested in good food, exciting concerts, Los Angeles travel plans, or anything which might be in any way pertinent to actual human connections.
by Amelia G : September 2nd, 2010
I really like Eli Roth as a personality. He has a certain wit and charm and unstoppable DIY willingness to just go for it and stick to it, which I really enjoy. I find him most interesting as a writer and have been following him on Twitter just to read his random thoughts in 140 character installments. As an actor, his parts in Inglorious Basterds were definitely some of the most enjoyable.
One of the things I like about Eli Roth is that he seems to be genuinely a DIY guy. He financed student films by working as a phone sex operator and got private investors to make his first film Cabin Fever. One of the thing Lionsgate probably likes best about him is that he makes movies, which cost less than two million dollars to produce and gross a gajillion dollars in box office. He makes movies people want to see. The Last Exorcism, produced by Eli Roth, opened — as you probably noted from the countdown clock and banners here — on August 27 last week, and it has already grossed over twenty million smackeroos.
But I digress. The fascinating tidbit of the week from Eli Roth’s Twitter is that Ashley Bell, who plays the possibly possessed Nell Sweetzer in The Last Exorcism, did all her creepy contortions without benefit of CGI. The images in the posters and the clips I’ve seen are really striking and I like Eli Roth’s take on the whole thing, which is essentially that CGI has its place, but sometimes less is more. And he is willing to express actual happiness with his accomplishments on the internet, even in the face of people being what I believe (from my vast education on the subject) the DSM IV characterizes as “jerks”.
I haven’t seen The Last Exorcism, so I’m going to quote Mike McPadden from my Facebook, “THE LAST EXORCISM is my favorite movie of 2010 (so far). PG-13 regardless, I loved it,” Mike McPadden enthused, adding, “The more I ponder THE LAST EXORCISM, the better it becomes. And I loved it immediately. Amidst the affable, thoroughly enjoyable schlock of EXPENDABLES, PIRANHA 3D and (I’m guessing) MACHETE, LAST EXORCISM is a genuine surprise of depth and power—with a socko final wallop right out of a 70s-era 4:30 Movie!”
Speaking of Pirhana 3D, Eli Roth has an acting part in that movie as a wet T-shirt host. Apparently, Joe Francis, of Girls Gone Wild infamy, is really peeved about Pirhana 3D. He says of the character obviously based on him and played by Jerry O’Connell, “I believe Mr. O’Connell may lose more than his penis (i.e., lots of money) if he and the Weinstein Co. choose to release this film and continue to falsely associate me with its questionable content,” Francis . . . I appreciate a good parody as much as the next guy, but to associate me with drugs and the filming of underage girls crosses a definite line.” Jerry O’Connell is probably best known for playing a super-powered teen on My Secret Identity and a time-space continuum traveling dude on Sliders. Joe Francis is probably best known for his legal woes regarding his alleged use of drugs and the alleged filming of underage girls. Also his alleged tax evasion and alleged sexual assaults. I’m digressing again, but I’m just saying Joe Francis should try reading some of his own interviews and not just Jerry O’Connell’s, to find out what he is associated with.
Mike McPadden and I are both veterans of the Desktop Publishing Revolution and zinesterdom. He did a zine called Happyland, under the name Selwyn Harris. He now writes for Mr. Skin and also posts occasionally missives on his McBeardo site. I have to recommend his August birthday entry, entitled Madonna Boots, about how he lost his virginity. I won’t give away the punchline summary, but the tale has . . .
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Was just looking at Facebook and had the revelation I don’t recall my first roommate’s name. In fact, all I can recall about her was that she didn’t like all my male friends coming in via our second floor balcony (even though I thought guys climbing in my balcony was awesome), she was so addicted to caffeine she had to drink a Diet Coke to relax her jones enough to fall asleep, and she was brunette.
Can you recall the full names of everyone you ever lived with?