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writer, singer, webwrangler, blogger, comedy tragic | about.me/vivsmythe

• By all means, discuss our comments policy in this thread

  By tigtog on 2008-08-13 • ( 58 )

  But only in this thread, please.

  Some complaints have been made

• More classic sexist advertising

  By tigtog on 2008-08-12 • ( 6 )

  

  Wonder whether it generated any outrage when originally published? Nah, it’s “just a joke”

• A conflict of interest in Campaign McCain, you say? Quelle surprise!

  By tigtog on 2008-08-11

  

  Most of the world is calling on both Russia and Georgia to show restraint in their current conflict, without attempting to cast one as more of an agressor than the other.

  Not Campaign McCain

• WWTTMD?

  By tigtog on 2008-08-11 • ( 8 )

  What would Tiananmen Tank Man Do?

  I don’t think he’d watch the Olympics. Of course I can’t know this, because we don’t know who he was, whether he is still alive, or whether he would actually be an enormous fan of the Olympics right now.

  Still, I am not watching these Olympics, simply because I can’t square my conscience with supporting the regime’s propaganda exercise.

• SF Sunday: so what are you reading?

  By tigtog on 2008-08-10 • ( 13 )

  Very simple this week, although you can spice it up by reading the question above in a very suggestive tone of voice if you like.

  I’m halfway through the fantasy Wicked! (The True Story of the Wicked Witch of the West), revisiting an anthology of Australian SF writers speculating on the future of work in light of recent industrial relations reforms, and also halfway through

• Friday Hoyden*: Michelle Gomez

  By tigtog on 2008-08-10 • ( 10 )

  Gomez is an actor I’ve enjoyed watching for some time, and when I read that she had chosen to play Katharine in a new RSC staging of The Taming of the Shrew I wondered why on earth she had agreed to be in that monstrously misogynist play, whose enduring popularity relies solely on the comedy fireworks in the early scenes between Petruchio and Kate, and the ability of the Kate to gloss over the humiliations she receives. I was disappointed by the idea that Gomez’s glorious abilities in physical comedy were going to be used simply to mask the horror of Katherine’s annihilation yet again. I should have had more faith.

• Quicklink: how the hell did I miss this when it was the 2006 meme de jour?

  By tigtog on 2008-08-09 • ( 5 )

  The Evolution of Dance. Amazing routine.

  Find more memes you missed back in the ancient days of Internets yore at the Internet Memes Timeline. There’s explanations for the ones you see around all the time, and even use, but may not know their origins.

  H/T Tama Leaver

• Feminism Friday from the Feed-reader

  By tigtog on 2008-08-08

  A few must-reads highlighting several very different feminist core issues from the recent posts at Feministe:

  Octogalore: Opt Out, Push Out, and Pink Collar Paths

  Well, it’s critical for workplaces to become more family friendly. Single parents, poor parents, don’t have the option for one parent not to work. And for women and men to have equal access to unemployment benefits.

  But it’s also critical for this “family friendly” path not to

• Musing on male contraception

  By tigtog on 2008-08-08

  Until now both technical and psycho-cultural barriers have prevented the development of effective chemical male contraception, with the psycho-cultural barriers being the primary reason that there does not exist a sufficient potential market to drive investment in R&D to overcome the technical barriers. Even the MRAs who so bemoan women trapping them into unwanted paternity appear oddly unwilling to consider funding the R&D for an effective Male Pill

• Gratuitous David Tennant blogging (now with rich and creamy Hamlet coating)

  By tigtog on 2008-08-07 • ( 28 )

  The reviews of the latest RSC production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (starring David Tennant) are in, and they’re somewhat mixed. (Although not for Patrick Stewart, whose Claudius appears to be universally praised.)