web-goddess

As you might have noticed, I have resisted the urge to comment on that fiasco… except to say that I think blocking all Clinton’s last executive orders is a damn dirty trick. The man hasn’t even been in office for a week and already he’s pandering to corporate interests at the expense of America’s natural resources.

I enjoyed Gina Arnold’s Salon article about “Badass girls on film”, but I thought that the comment about “latent lesbianism” on Buffy showed her ignorance a bit. There’s actually explicit lesbianism in the show in the form of Willow, but she was never the ass-kicker that the article describes. Arnold wants to claim that by labelling tough girls like Xena and Gabrielle “dykes”, it makes their feats seem less threatening to men. But she includes Buffy in that group, who (while SMG might well be attractive to women) has always been 100% boy crazy. In fact, I think Buffy (the character) is so popular because she’s this tiny little heterosexual waif that defies convention and kicks ass. Willow’s relationship with Tara is completely different, though, and neither of them look anything like the stereotypical “dyke” that Arnold presents. It’s like she read an article somewhere linking “Buffy” and “lesbian” and just threw that little comment in without bothering to check with anyone who actually watches the show.

Whoa! Some guy has a million Atari games to sell! If only I had managed to save my aunt’s console from the family garage sale…

Sorry about the lack of updates. An old friend was in town, and (as expected) my sniffles finally developed into a full-blown cold. All in all it was not a weekend conducive to blogging… I’ll make up for it today. 🙂

I applaud Miramax for trying something new, but I don’t really think they’re giving the “movies-over-the-Internet” thing a fair trial. I mean, Guinevere???. I don’t even wanna think about Sarah Polley gettin’ it on with Stephen Rea, let alone spend half an hour downloading 500MB of it to my computer. Yuck.

Sorry, Max. I hate Andy Dick. The only time I ever found him funny was when Chris Kattan was impersonating him on Saturday Night Live. (Andy himself apparently didn’t see the humor.)

The only thing worse than finding out that a good friend is a closet Republican, is finding out that an ex-boyfriend is a closet Republican. Excuse me, I’m off to get some mouthwash…

My excellent sister (who’s in the process of setting up her own website) jumped on Napster for me and managed to find both of the new songs R.E.M. performed in Rio! They’re called “She Just Wants to Be” and “The Lifting”. I like them both… They sound more New Adventures than Up to me. Lots of guitar and slightly more conventional song structure. If you liked what the band did for Man on the Moon, I think this sounds like the natural progression from that. (There’s clearly a real drummer playing along. I wonder who they drafted for that?)

The official band website has been re-designed, and though it does look a lot prettier, I have to say FLASH SUCKS. (Hey Bertis! You know why the fan club succeeds? Because it’s lo-tech. Figure it out.) The merchandise store will be open next week, but for now you can read a news update about the Rock in Rio concert where they played two songs from the new album.

Perhaps I found this satirical essay about Dubya’s “South Will Rise Again!” inauguration so funny because I’m re-reading “Gone With the Wind.” Or perhaps it’s just because it’s ridiculously close to the truth. Maureen Dowd is a goddess, and I can’t wait to see what kind of material the next four years will provide her with. (Link courtesy of Ghost in the Machine.)