Category Archives: Popular (and unpopular) culture

Review: Sugarshock

Sugarshock is Joss Whedon’s free on-line comic. If you haven’t read it yet you should: part 1, part 2, and part 3. It’s an extremely silly, story about a band called Sugarshock. Made up of Dandelion who hates vikings and … Continue reading

Posted in Buffy, Whedon, etc., Cartooning & comics, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 19 Comments

Playing terrorist: The Arab Actor's Ghetto

From Ezra: The undisputed champion of the Arab terrorist role is Sayed Badreya. The burly, bearded Egyptian-born actor has played an array of menacing characters in a 20-year Hollywood career. He’ll appear with Robert Downey Jr. in next year’s “Iron … Continue reading

Posted in Media criticism, Popular (and unpopular) culture, Race, racism and related issues | 2 Comments

Spot the Liar!

One of these things is not like the other, One of these things is not the same… Can you guess which one? Oh, I take it back. They’re all hilarious.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Feminism, sexism, etc, Mind-blowing Miscellania and other Neat Stuff, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 1 Comment

Whiteness=Nerdiness??

Tariq sent me this link from a NYT article, which I later read in my backlog of post vacation newspapers.  The article discusses Dr. Mary Bucholtz’s research on the connection between nerdiness and whiteness.  The article says, Nerdiness, she has … Continue reading

Posted in Media criticism, Popular (and unpopular) culture, Race, racism and related issues | 51 Comments

We will have pride in how we live

I have a new favourite Christmas song. I’m not sure what my old favourite Christmas song was, but there’s no way it can be as awesome as Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher from Billy Elliot: The Musical. This is the chorus: … Continue reading

Posted in Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 29 Comments

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows SPOILERS

I wasn’t going to buy Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows. I could have scraped together the money, but at the moment if I have a spare $35 sitting around it should go to the lock-out fund. But I remembered that … Continue reading

Posted in Popular (and unpopular) culture | 42 Comments

Helix SF Magazine Publishes All Female-Authored Issue. Verdict: Cookie Allotted.

The science fiction magazine Helix SF, which describes itself as publishing “controversial” stories, has posted an issue featuring all women writers. It features fiction by authors such as Esther Freisner, Eugie Foster, Yoon Ha Lee, and Samantha Henderson. There’s also … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, sexism, etc, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 22 Comments

Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Movie

When I was walking to the movie theatre we were talking about what they would include and one of my friend’s said ‘don’t spoil me’ (and then claimed he was too busy to read the books, but apparently has plenty … Continue reading

Posted in Popular (and unpopular) culture, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues | 54 Comments

"Make Love To The Razor" — various Sondheim bits from Youtube

Serious Sondheim and “Into The Woods” fans might be interested in this… a “second midnight” song, from the first act, which was cut at some point. I assume this audio recording was made during a rehearsal; the accompaniment is just … Continue reading

Posted in Popular (and unpopular) culture | 3 Comments

Maggie Gyllenhaal Breastfeeds: Sexists Go Crazy

Some paparazzi took pictures of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal breastfeeding her child in public. Somehow I missed this, when the “scandalous” photos were taken a couple weeks ago. They are posted all over the place at entertainment blogs. I thought I … Continue reading

Posted in Anti-feminists and their pals, Breastfeeding & Lactivism, Families structures, divorce, etc, Gender and the Body, Media criticism, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 26 Comments