Today’s otter comes via Zooborns. Click through for more pictures of these fuzzy Asian Small-Clawed otter pups, snapped at the Blackpool Zoo.
Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. Is there anything great happening in your life? Anything you want to get off your chest? Reading a good book (or a bad one)? Anything in the news that you’d like to discuss? What have you created lately? Commiserations, felicitations, temptations, contemplations, speculations?
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
It’s some sort of football event today, and I am sick of jokes that start with “Collingwood supporters!” and end with “They’re poor!”
This week, on mainstream media I’ve heard how Collingwood supporters have bad dental hygiene, drug addictions, many children, physically demanding shift-work and other low-status jobs, tattoos, bad haircuts, eat bad food, own stolen goods, and how Centrelink offices will be empty because all the welfare recipients will be at home barracking for their team.
Now, I’m a thoroughly middle-class lady studying for a ridiculously middle-class degree, but I’m currently living on student money. I resent the suggestion that I’m a lesser person because I can’t afford nice things and am reliant on the state.
(For non-Melbournians, Collingwood used to be a thoroughly working-class industrial area and once contained slums. Last time I checked it also has a relatively high indigenous population.)
Ew, that’s kind of sick-making, Kim. I guess that othering shit helps make the Haves feel better about oppressing the Havenots. By bizarre coincidence I just read a thread about Racism and Classism in the blogosphere before I saw your comment.
http://teebeeell.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/choose-sides/#comment-419
Unfortunately, the hype around the commodified thuggery known as “football” is starting to rev up here in Sydney too.
Just wondering if anyone’s read/watched any of the Steig Larsson books with Lisbeth Salander as the main character? I thought I’d heard that they were quite feminist, but I keep hearing about fairly intense sexual violence and I don’t think I could sit through it – just wondering if others had read/watched and what thoughts they had on whether it is ultimately feminist, or simply more voyeuristic violence/revenge stuff?
I have read the books but not seen the movies. I’m happy to lend you the books if you wish to read them.
They are violent. Lots of violence happens to Lisbeth and she dishes out a lot of violence as well. My impression is that they are called feminist because Lisbeth and the other women in the books are strong characters in their own rights with their own story arcs not dependent on the men in the stories, although of course intertwined. Also the revenge. YMMV. I could say lots more but I don’t want to give away the plot. From memory they meet the Bechdel test.
Could they be triggering – yes. I wasn’t triggered but I still found some of it hard to read and incredibly frustrating. But for me the mark of a good book is one that gets you in and makes you really feel strongly about the characters so that was a good thing for me, but may be a deal breaker for someone else.
So yes it is violent, yes it could be triggering, but they are also very well written and engrossing books. Lisbeth is one hell of a character, but she is nobody’s hero. I think that’s why I liked her, and the books, so much. Plus she’s non-neurotypical but not in an inspirational way, she just is who she is.
The lolfinal we had today was very interesting. The amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth on my facebook was staggering actually. And it all left me wondering why on earth (unlike soccer), they can’t just keep playing until someone scores another goal (or maybe even until someone gets six points, given how long it can take for someone to kick a goal). I’m well aware that this would have people tell me how un-Australian I am in some quarters, but, it’s AFL. It is not the same kind of limbo we were in about the election. It really is just a game.
Julie, in local club sport there would have been extra time/golden goal/penalty shoot-outs, strokes etc depending on the game – but in this case there is extra money to be made by stretching it out for another match. It’s a sham. Capitalism stinks.
Personal pet hate: seeing parents (in forums I otherwise enjoy) universally rally around the idea that you should never take a child of any age to a political protest unless said child agrees with the purpose of the event.
… way to exclude parents of very young children from public political activity.
Mary, yeah I used to get that one alot. It’s more against the idea of protesting than for children’s rights. Nothing wrong with the idea of seeking out children’s perspectives on the shit we force on them. But those same people usually don’t think their logic should extend to things like school or church or all the other ways we oppress children by forcing them into narrow ideals of “good citizenship”.
Is it just me, or is facebook not working? How am I supposed to procrastinate without it??
Finally got to a hotel on holiday where the WiFi works. Having too much fun to blog much anyway, but it’s good to see all your avatars again.