Summer is at last in full swing, and so are we. We begin July with our feet planted more firmly. Our schedule is coming together, and we are picking up new writers. We’re still tinkering with the site, enabling ratings on posts and comments and a front page that highlights content in a more organized fashion.
June saw a great outpouring of deeply emotive entries. We were pleased and outraged, victorious and shaken, in love and alone. The political sphere mirrored our ups and downs, with a nail-biting lead-up to New York state passing legislation to permit same-sex marriages, followed by a similar passage in Rhode Island.
We’re looking forward to more break-throughs and more soul sharing this summer. Join us!
This one is loaded with controversy. A Pakistani comedian has put together a music video spoofing the classic “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison.
Personally, I think the concept is awesome. I’m always up for satire, and I think it’s most needed where people don’t want it.
Some people say it’s derogatory toward these women, that it mocks Islam, that it will sour relations with the West, that it will “only create further divisions and friction within Pakistan.” All of that is true, and none of it is true. I get the sense that this video was done with great affection, as well as criticism for, the customs of Pakistan and Islam in general.
What are your thoughts? Hilarious send-up, or blight on social discourse?
As we brainstormed questions for Alissa’s interview, both of us wanted to address the inspired quality we found in Alissa’s art. We found traces of this inspiration everywhere, from the elegant Grecian forms of her Greek gods and goddesses series, to other complex mythological characters.
Alissa wrote us insightful – and often surprising — answers to these questions, and we are happy to share them with you in our second installment.
Where do you get your inspiration? Who are your muses?
As a kid, I read a lot of comic books, watched a lot of anime, and I surround myself with Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino films. I also read A LOT, see a lot of movies and am an iTunes junkie. I constantly surf the net, admiring other artists’ work. I really just look for inspiration anywhere and everywhere I can get it.
We love art and we love artists. It’s only natural for us to tap into one of the internet’s biggest gathering spots of artists. (Plus, we needed a place to keep Roxy’s awesome comics.)
We will be using the dA platform to highlight art we like and reach out to potential contributors. If you have an account there and want to join, do please tell us if we already know you, and/or how you found us. We want to give our contributors their deserved place of honor.
Don’t mind the bare walls, we’re still getting settled over there.
A simple search for “subterfuge” under Google Images produces some amazing graphics. None of these, however, are more stunning than the artwork we found by Alissa “Lissy” Jo Rindels.
Her piece, (obviously titled “Subterfuge”) features a woman whose voluptuous body is splattered with blood. Though her subject wears little else but an arresting glare, she points a sanguineous arm to the right.
F found the picture through an impulse search on Google Images. Mesmerized, F showed D the image. Together they clicked through to the rest of the website to see many examples of women in positions of power and strength. These pieces provoked questions and thoughts and ideas about the subjects and the positions they found themselves. We knew we had to write about them — and their creator. D and F drafted a series of emails in trepidation.
This was the first time we’d ever done an interview, and we needed to make a plan of action.
The process of coming up with questions was an intimidating one. We wanted to ask about the art itself. We wanted to ask about her inspiration. We wanted to ask about her muses and sources of strength. We wanted to ask her about the life of a spectacularly talented artist. Most of all, however, we wanted to ask her about the irresistible female force behind her work.
We finished writing the questions over the course of a few days. (We had many.) Alissa responded promptly. She was gracious, kind, and willing to answer whatever questions we had for her. We corresponded over a short period of time. Soon, we had our answers. We — F and D — would like to thank her very much for her hard work and her patience.
Weddings. Some people live and die by them, some are repulsed. Some will be happy as long as it’s an open bar.
April Winchell runs Regretsy, a blog that highlights the most atrocious things people try to sell as handmade art on Etsy.com. She’s also getting married in the not-too-distant future. Brides.com realized that there are a lot of snarky women out there who aren’t interested in doilies, but would like to read something funny by a woman who shares their sentiments. You can read her monthly column starting here.
She has a very simple list of what she wants:
1. A nice dress
2. A picturesque location
3. A good meal
If you hadn’t guessed, October’s column is about ways people try to save money. This includes emailing invitations instead of mailing them (because Great-Aunt Bertha has email?) and creating a fake cake for display while a cheap sheet cake is cut in the kitchen. April was not impressed.
Management would like to introduce a segment called Politics and Outrage. This segment will link newsworthy items along with commentary. We SHOULD care about the news. We hope this segment will spark lively discussion in the comments.
This segment will run as often as V will write it for us.
Fox News advocates murder and assassination on air — This is mostly a video, and at first I was only going to show the YouTube link, but I liked what the blogger had to say about the video. Nothing like calls for murder and the stifling of free speech to start your day, right Faux Fox?
Sign of the Devil…or perhaps just encouragement — Apparently, some people (and school officials) in a Utah town dislike the idea of their elementary school kids seeing the word, “suicide” on someone’s signs on their own private property. At first, this makes sense. Until you stop and think for a moment, and realize that even elementary school kids can and have committed suicide before (although perhaps not necessarily for THIS purpose) and the man has his eye on the future — starting positive messages NOW rather than waiting until its already too late.
Has anyone else noticed that the state of today’s anime is bland, having little or nothing to do with politics, or relevant issues of the times, compared to the way anime used to be back in the day?
Have you ever thought that some people take their entertainment too seriously? That, for some reason, they cannot enjoy something as lovely as anime without having to thrust politics, current issues, and other such things? I have had that thought, too. But, I see now where I had not been engaging my brain! Let me explain.
A few days ago, perhaps even a week or so ago, I discussed anime with Roxy. She and I have very similar views and political beliefs. The discussion was really just meant to be light-hearted, an exchanging of views. But, I took it too seriously and it began to quickly irritate me. I won’t lie, it was mostly because at the heart of the discussion seemed to lie my favorite anime as of the moment (and last year or so!). I saw it as dissing my favorite anime, and I kept thinking, “Why does this have to be about such things? Why can’t we just watch something to get away from the real world and politics and current events/issues? Why can’t we just have simple fun with an anime? Doesn’t she realize that this is important, too?” This is just an excuse for my irrationality. I was upset over anime. Anime! I was taking things too personally. This was not only silly, it was ridiculous.
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