Another amazing trend from Ashley Goldberg and Drew! Ashley and Drew have decided to create these incredible porcelain hanging pieces with their wonderful artwork. I love them--and I'm happy to say I'm the proud owner of this version! Check their Etsy shop for more versions . . . sublime!

I found another incredible artist on Etsy. Her name is Kat Hannah, and her work is beautiful, luminous, and just a little bit creepy. I'm often attracted to art that has a tinge of melancholy. Check out her etsy shop, too. This piece is called Defiant.

Now is the time for joy! President Barack Hussein Obama . . . Yippee!

I have been waiting for this day for a long time--and by this day I mean the LAST day of the Bush regime. And now I have something much more exciting to look forward to than just Bush being gone--I have an intelligent, calm, progressive new leader. But first, a small tribute to getting rid of George Bush! This comic is by the amazing, smart and prophetic Tom Tomorrow. Check out his work and blog at: www.thismodernworld.com.

This is what happens when you have a nice ribbon rainbow hanging thingy and forget to take it down for winter.

Being from California, acknowledging the Rose Parade is a tradition I'm ambivalent about. Sure it marks the new year, yes, there are lots of pretty floats that are obviously created by very talented people who put in hours of labor, but--the rose Parade also has a tradition of being viewed by virtually everyone across the U.S., unless you're too cool or too hungover to watch it, and of course what people see besides the damn floats and the marching bands is the fucking amazingly beautiful weather. It is unfailingly sunny, mild, and just overall fabulous on New Year's day, just so the zillions of people in the frigid northeast and midwest can see the people in shirtsleeves and sandals enjoying life OUTSIDE on January first.

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of the parade, but invariably I have it on every year so I can catch a glimpse of the City of Burbank (where I grew up) float. This year, I had to watch the stupid parade like THREE times to see the damn thing.

Usually a day or so after the parade the float people deposit the Burbank float in the parking lot of Verdugo Park (aka Verdruggo Park when I was in Junior High) so people can come and see it up close and personal. I took some pictures. Here they are. Happy New Year!

I came across this wonderful artwork today, via The Roadside Scholar (link at right) who always has such great appreciation for everything in the world. She links to another blog, who links to this image. It is a print of the United States with each state's "motto" emblazoned on its face. The work is by artist Emily Wick. I really like it a lot. You can buy it here:
www.twoeyeballs.com

I've decided that I really dislike the last book in the Virgin Vampire series. Beginning with Twilight, the first in the series, a read which I actually enjoyed, the novels have seemingly declined in their ability to keep me interested and less disgusted with the blatant patriarchal, misogynist, sexist, romantic bullshit.

I have visited Stephenie Meyer's web site a few times, and although I congratulate her for creating a publishing phenomenon that centers on a female protagonist, or MC as my students might say, I resent her anti-feminist thread. Of course not every book has to be "feminist." But why, I ask you, why does the single most popular YA book right now, perhaps ever, have to be about romance? And not sexy, funny, empowering romance, but old-fashioned, chaste, practically abusive-masculinist-heteronormative romance? And why does Bella have to be such a fucking idiot? Why does her life have to revolve around feeding her father and leeching onto her vampire boyfriend? Why can't we ever have a female MC who eschews romance for something more interesting? Empowering? Enlightening?

My students sometimes complain when I make them read Seventeenth Summer, a wonderful, lyrical book from 1942 that is in so many ways the Ur-text for YA. They complain because it's very lyrical and descriptive (read: boring to contemporary teens) and it does have Angie's (the MC) life revolve around Jack--but, the novel also has Angie LEAVE Jack to go off to college. Proto-feminist, I say. I guess I long for another Angie--a modern version of Angie who recognizes that romance has it's place, but should not be the be-all end-all of a young woman's life.

Thinking about buying someone a wonderful piece of art this holiday season? Consider this . . . "Moon Catcher" by Katrine Kalleklev. It's a steal at 30 bucks. There's a link to her web site at right which has a link to her Etsy shop.

I admit it--I love reading the Twilight novels. But I also love making fun of them, and how completely anti-feminist they are. My sister got mad at me this morning for saying the books were "romance novels" as opposed to YA vampire texts. She's a hopeless romantic! I'm a hopeless cynic and obnoxious consumer of popular culture! Yippee!

Anyway, the above video is by Sarah Haskins whose Target Women series is fucking hilarious and completely funny. You go, Sarah!

The cat that invaded our house!

His name is Jacks, and Marcy is not his biggest fan. I finally talked with his owner today who came to retrieve him. Jacks is very sweet and seems to have been spending time at many homes throughout the neighborhood, killing mice, eating, and hanging out.

He's a part-time cat!

Here's a sharp litle poem by Ezra Pound. I think it is the perfect tribute to my feelings about winter.


Ancient Music

Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm.
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.

Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.

Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm.
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

Ezra Pound

I was alerted to a very scary column from the New Zealand Herald yesterday. I was reading the great site Feministing.com, and they had posted a link to this hateful, misogynistic rant by Garth George. I suggest you read it for yourself, and then send his publisher an email. Why is this man being published?


Garth George : Abortion at the heart of all abuse - 27 Nov 2008 - NZ Herald: Opinion, Editorial and Reader Comments

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Gotta love this old commercial parody from SNL . . .

The dictionary defines tenure as: status granted to an employee, usually after a probationary period, indicating that the position or employment is permanent.

This academic year, I am going up for tenure. This is how I feel.

I don't know how I came across this video, or why I like it so much, but here it is. It's called Charleston Style.

There is a lovely cat in my neighborhood who wanders around loose. I think his name is "Jacks," and from time to time he sneaks into my house and hangs around for awhile. Marcy is not a big fan of this intrusion, but so far they have stayed away from each other and no fur has flown. He is really quite sweet.

The other day I came home to find this on my kitchen floor.

I was horrified, of course, and worried. Marcy is now ten years old, and has an increasingly sensitive stomach. At first I thought it was vomit, but later realized it was poop. After a trip to the venerable Dr. Van, Marcy was diagnosed with a mild case of colitis, and is now on chicken and brown rice for a week! Poor little poopy girl . . . I love you, Marcy!

I admit it--I LOVE Rachel Maddow, and of course I adore Keith Olbermann. Here is Ms. Rachel on Colbert talking about today's issues and, of course, Keith--the king of cable! God, I really love smart, progressive women . . .

Today is an historic day . . . no matter what happens.

Update: President elect Obama. I am so excited, and actually (gulp) proud to be a citizen of this country today. I am moved beyond words.