August 2011
$23K Is Too Much To Pay For A Circumcision
…but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that you could just skip getting your kid circumcised, for free! (I’m in the shouldn’t-be-banned but wouldn’t-do-it-to-my-son camp.)
(If you DO have a religious reason, mohels are almost certainly coming in at under a grand.)
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Poupak's Parisian Life in New York: On the Subject... →
poupak:
Let me just start by saying this is completely my opinion, and my feelings alone, and not representative of anything from any improv theater or performer involved. This is how I perceived that particular person who took center stage at a show I was attending.
The various legal loopholes and…
This is the most fucked thing ever. You should also read Splitsider’s take on it....
My New "Classic Trash" at the Awl
…is the original 1972 “Joy of Sex.” Check it out!
Truth.
The phrase “tonsil hockey” is now used exclusively by detectives in television police procedurals to show how hard-nosed and cynical they are.
So, You Know, I Write This Super-Hardcore Post...
…and then I say OH MY GOD TOP CHEF: JUST DESSERTS IS BACK ON, WHEE!!!
And this is clearly why we’re going to lose our reproductive rights. I should be on a fucking picket line right now, not going “yay, Bravo TV!”
Is there a chance that Bravo is a secretly-right-wing television station, designed to distract affluent liberals from tossing Molotov cocktails at the machinery...
And This is Why You Can't Be a Pro-Life...
We live in a country which is slowly clawing back our reproductive rights, under the guise of granting civil liberties to fetuses, when, currently, we guarantee the rights of DEAD PEOPLE to not give their life-saving organs to the living over the rights of…the living who need that organ.
Not the possibly-living. Not the soon-to-be-living. Not the...
A Story About Vietnam
…courtesy of Jimmy, my favourite cabbie.
After he was drafted (he was 23, so he made a fortune in basic training by buying beer for the younger draftees), he was stationed briefly in Okinawa while waiting to be called for his flight to Vietnam.
There would be a morning roll-call at seven am. If they didn’t call your name, you weren’t flying to Vietnam that morning, and you...
The West Memphis Three
I wish they’d had their convictions overturned and been found not guilty in fresh trials, but if I’d been in jail for eighteen years, I’d have taken the deal too.
claxjosh91 asked: why are all of these people trying to touch your body?
Something To Look Forward To.
My mother and I were chatting about my childhood last time I was home for a visit, and she told me that when I was five, someone floated the idea of me being a doctor when I grew up, and I looked totally horrified and explained that BOYS were doctors and GIRLS were nurses (nurses are totally awesome, no hate for nurses!)
And my mother basically sunk to her knees and wrenched out handfuls of hair,...
I Have My Last Formal Driving Lesson Today
…and still zero wish to give up my Folksy Elderly Mormon Instructor Security Blanket, OR the brake pedal on the passenger side of the front seat.
Oh, I talk a good game about his boring anecdotes about Salt Lake neighborhoods, but his soothing patter and old-timey wisdom keeps me from certain death on the road.
Daniel Evans Is In The First Episode Of The...
Daniel Evans was George in the amazing London (and then Broadway) revival of ‘Sunday In The Park With George,’ and is my gay singing boyfriend (along with John Barrowman and Raul Esparza.)
“Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. Very effective way to do...”
– (State) Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.
(My only concern with creating space in the curriculum to address the contributions of gay Americans is that you really need a month to cover Sondheim alone.)
Jesus God.
Please get your puppy vaccinated for parvo. Please. Please. I don’t want to even get into the stories my vet friend tells during parvo season (which is now).
You Know How Good "The Bourne Ultimatum" Is?
I absolutely adore David Strathairn, but if I saw him on the street within four hours of a re-watch, I’d have to restrain myself from spitting on him.
Also, Paddy Considine looked super familiar as the Guardian columnist, and then I remembered he was one of the “detectives” in Hot Fuzz.
Why are the Bourne movies so good, and why do they avoid so many of the idiot pitfalls of...
This Article on Transit Authorities and Museums...
…is super interesting and heartening.
Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life,...
I’ve fallen out of the habit of reading books in a single sitting, mostly due to the universal pathology of the Internet age, so this morning’s power failure was a surprisingly enjoyable experience.
I *loved* this spiky, elliptical memoir. Loved it! I won’t get into plot explication, other than to say it will be of particular interest to women who are involved with the world of...
Wait, That's Lucius Malfoy!
…in The Patriot, on cable, which I refuse to watch on general principle as a member of the Commonwealth. And because I have a 100% Mel Gibson boycott.
Lucius is hot, though.
If I Seem Angrier Than Usual Today
It’s just because I don’t really “do political” over at the Hairpin, because that’s not our thing (which can also be relaxing!), so I have a lot of extra righteous feminist rage built up.
ABORTION ON DEMAND!
MARRY, GAYS!
DON’T MARRY, GAYS WHO OPPOSE THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE!
THROW OFF THE SHACKLES OF PATRIARCHAL RELIGION!
WHERE’S THE PAID PARENTAL...
Just a Note on the Snottiness I've Seen in the...
Lower-income families (who are also more likely to struggle with infertility, for numerous reasons) are way more likely to wind up with multiples as a result of ART than higher-income families.
This is because jacking your ovaries up on Clomid is a substantially more affordable option than IVF, but, unlike IVF, you have no control over how many embryos you’re transferring. Instead, your...
Before I Calm Down
The thing with this, right, is that it’s not one of those things where you can say to yourself, “Well, Lazy, let’s remember that the bishops actually believe that there’s an active benevolent deity who wants us to force women to give birth against their will and to keep gay people from engaging in consensual sex with each other, and it’s Part of the Whole Deal, and,...
Straw, Camel, APOCALYPSE NOW.
If you live in New York State, and you give money to the Catholic Church, this is what you are helping to fund.
This is unconscionable. And it’s the bishops! It’s not, like, Bill Donohue being horrible on his own time, or anything.
HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT, NEW YORK STATE CATHOLIC CONFERENCE?
I Have a New Classic Trash Up at The Awl
Go see!
queenieinmanhattan asked: Have you read The Cookbook Collector? Is it worth it? I'm about 5% in (Kindle!) and just not feeling it. Should I stick with it or move on to Blood, Bones & Butter?
You Know You've Been Away Long Enough to Miss Utah
…when you smile beatifically at the returning missionaries on your flight back.
It helps that they look like they’re twelve years old, and almost got into a little slapfight over who could help the waddly pregnant woman get her bag into the overhead compartment.
Bless you sweet, well-meaning young things. May you either marry women and have many sandy-haired babies in Utah, or may...
Not Surprising, I Guess
You can wake up, eat breakfast, go to the airport, go through customs, land, and then take off again, never having gotten ‘Springtime for Hitler’ out of your head.
Evvvvery hotsy totsy Nazi says hurray.
Serious Question
Do all babies actually look like Winston Churchill, or did Winston Churchill look like a baby?
Unnatural Selection, Mara Hvistendahl
I’m reading Hvistendahl’s downer of a tome on the issue of sex-selective abortion, and, in keeping with our ‘everything is awful’ Jaycee Dugard theme, everything is awful.
No, really! And, me, right, I do not believe in quashing sex-selective abortion through any method other than ‘let’s really encourage people to appreciate and value girls and women,’...
A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
Generally, ‘I read the excerpt in People Magazine and cried a lot’ is not a great reason to buy a book, but I feel like it would be a nice gesture for all of us to buy the poor woman’s work, you know?
It is…very sad. And I could get into a lot of platitudes about AH THE RESILIENCE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT, but, actually, a total valid takeaway could also be: there is no God,...
Finally Met My Brother's Girlfriend
(His American Internet Girlfriend of three years!)
She’s extremely nice and smart and nerdy and fond of my brother and knows how to feed manatees (it’s part of her job), and she has really rockin’ boobs, so we think she’s probably here to stay.
She’s on a butter tart eating rampage at the moment, having never had one before coming to Canada, and is now clocking...
