arts

We've seen so many people exploit their children that it's become a sort of sordid and sad norm in our culture. But really, this is ridiculous.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have yet to show their baby daughter off in public, but eager fans were given an unusual preview with the chance to see a bronze cast depicting her first solid stool.

The scatological sculpture -- more doodoo than Dada -- is purportedly cast from 19-week old Suri's first bowel movement and will be shown at the Capla Kesting gallery in Brooklyn, New York, before being auctioned off for charity.

If you look at the picture, you can see that this is no diaper-smooshed poop. It's almost like someone was holding the babe when the movement took place. I imagine they had a crew shooting video, too. What do you think?

(Of course, this "sculpture" is by the same "artist" who depicted a birth-giving Britney Spears in a come-f*ck-me-doggy-style pose, which is even more ridiculous -- especially when it was a Caesarean birth.)

Unlike Forbes' kibbitzing scolding prediction, my guess is that Sumner Redstone is having no regrets for publicly shunning Tom Cruise. Scientology is starting to appear to be the least of his utter strangeness.

I suppose it's been pretty obvious that I've been slacking lately on my blogging duties. My posts of late have been less the result of a deliberate process and more of an impulsive, "Oh! I need to blog this!" after coming across something.

Here's one of those things: The Carnival of Science Fiction Feminism call for entries, whose deadline for entries is June 29th, with any posts from late May and all of June qualifying.

So if you're blogging about the edgy sexual and reproductive politics of Battlestar Galactica or sexism of Star Trek or attempted deconstruction of macho in Lost (ha!) or the blatant and pernicious sexism in the Dune prequels (making the original downright tame by comparison) or all the stupid sci fi trash coming out of Hollywood (where we don't really even need to mention the blatant sexism and even occasional misogyny running through those rotting fanboy fantasy blockbusters, now, do we, really?)...then send in a link. Also eligible:

* All Weblog Postings on Science Fiction and Fantasy works in all media (books, comic books, television, film, roleplaying tabletop games and video games) written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Fan fiction written from a Feminist Perspective is eligible.
* Posts about fan fiction written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Posts about conventions and fan gatherings of a Feminist nature are eligible.
* Posts about conventions and fan gatherings written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Posts about any science fiction or fantasy fandom written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Posts linking to newsand announcements are eligible, so long as they pertain specifically to the Feminist Sci-Fi Fantasy community.
* Considerations about science fiction/fantasy news from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Analysis of non-Feminist works from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Rants about any of the above written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Posts which spell “Space” using 3 A’s and two exclamation points and are written from a Feminist Perspective are eligible.
* Posts about Green-Skinned Amazons (from Outer Spaaace!) with more than two breasts that are not written from a Feminist Perspective will not be eligible (and if they aren’t damned funny,* will be reproduced for mockery).
* Posts about Getting Your Girlfriend into [specific type of fandom] had also better be damned funny. If written from a Feminist Perspective (even tongue-in-cheek), they will be eligible.

I found this announcement via CultureCat, whose blog I confess I've not visited in months. So I'm a week late in seeing that CultureCat is now Mrs. CultureCat -- or should I say he is now Mr. CultureCat?

Congrats to Clancy (who is keeping her name, which only makes sense since she's just finishing her Ph.D. dissertation -- not a time to become someone's rib in name)!

They call it "a monument to pro-life." I don't know. It seems to me like a monument to something else. (I'm left wondering how many women give birth doggy style?)

“Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston,� believed Pro-Life’s first monument to the ‘act of giving birth,’ is purportedly an idealized depiction of Britney in delivery. Natural aspects of Spears’ pregnancy, like lactiferous breasts and protruding naval, compliment a posterior view that depicts widened hips for birthing and reveals the crowning of baby Sean’s head.

The monument also acknowledges the pop-diva’s pin-up past by showing Spears seductively posed on all fours atop a bearskin rug with back arched, pelvis thrust upward, as she clutches the bear’s ears with ‘water-retentive’ hands.

“Britney provides inspiration for those struggling with the ‘right choice’,� said artist Daniel Edwards, recipient of a 2005 Bartlebooth award from London’s The Art Newspaper. “She was number one with Google last year, with good reason --- people are inspired by the beauty of a pregnant woman,� said Edwards.

Yeah, that's it. Right. Uh huh. That's why people are coming here from Google looking for "hairy armpit girl" and "girl fucks donkey."

But hey, you're not a real artist unless you can talk total bullshit, right?

Update: Is it a knife fetish?

A little birdie tells me Britney gave birth by caesarean:

Pop singer Britney Spears has given birth to a baby boy.

The baby was born Wednesday by caesarean section at the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center in California, the magazine said.

Now go look at the oddball birthing posture in the Edwards fantasy. I have no further comment.

Media girl posted a blog topic So what's wrong with a little objectification, anyway? As science fiction writer, J. F. Rivkin once complained, the cover of the novel (and even the title) often is not under the control of the author, so I have no arguments with author Marrit Ingman, unless she disabuses me of that presumption, about the "babes" cover of her article about Blogher.

Perhaps Second Wave Feminists have no sense of humor about their political struggles and trivializing women's topics is grist for the mill.

I was a young activist and I recall the cover of Ms Magazine - we called it "M" "S" in those days - which had an article about "why we aren't laughing." Like Polack, black, Jewish, Italian, Irish, and other ethnic jokes, jokes about women are legion. In 1973, I framed this picture and hung it on my office wall as "protest" against the "Rad Libber," (Radical Female Liberation) jokes that were making the rounds. It did not stop my boss from making his own jokes about the woman in the drawing and exactly what "movement" she would be making.

About 15 years ago, Andrew Dice Clay drew jeers for his jokes that demeaned women - women as bimbos and airheads.

Women tend to laugh to hide discomfort and mask embarrassment or even anger.

Make a racist joke to a minority, and chances are the person will call you on it. Make a sexist joke about females, the woman is expected to laugh. If she gets annoyed, then it means she has no sense of humor.

I am sure no one meant any real harm in putting up that cover and were it the Onion, I might think it was trying to make a satirical point, but the cover seemed out of place given the rest of the article.

I hope that this is not part of the post-Roe world.

Like "Lois Lane," "Clark"s" jokes aren't funny any more.

I suppose it's cool that the Blogher conference has gotten such high-profile attention from the Austin Chronicle, but I can't quite get over the fact that the editors ran with this cover.
Here Blogher is about empowering women's voices, and the spin they put on it uses cheap sex appeal, while also echoing the really bad movies of the '50s, like, um, Queen of Outer Space....

Three American astronauts are on the first manned mission to Venus, and when they arrive, they find the planet to be inhabited solely by women with high heels and short dresses. Unfortunately, they are immediately imprisoned, for the queen who rules Venus hates men... Suspecting the astronauts to be spies, she now plans to destroy the Earth. So now it's up to the three men (and some friendly Venusians) to overthrow the wicked queen and save the Earth.

Yes, that's right, get a few women together and they automatically hate men and want to take over the world. Those familiar with the genre of the times know that there were many movies like this, drawing on cultural fears of women who don't live to be in the arms of their man, much like the alien invasion movies played off of the red scare.

The final plot point of most of these movies was when the evil women finally succumbed to romantic advances by their male captives, dropped their guns and presumably rushed off to happy lives spending their nights on their backs and their days in the kitchen. Silly, uppity women, they just didn't know their place!

And this is the image the Austin Chronicle decides to run with to position Blogher in the minds of its readers.

The article itself is quite complimentary, introducing the founders of Blogher and the stuff they're talking about in panels at the SXSW festival.

"Women who write about family are 'mommybloggers,' while men who write about family are 'personal bloggers,' incorporating personal elements into their blogs," Des Jardins says. "It's so easy to call someone a 'mommyblogger,' to say that they write 'just' about family."

"As though so much of our great literature and art isn't about family relationships," Camahort points out. "When Arthur Miller wrote All My Sons, nobody said, 'Oh, he's just a 'daddy playwright.' Nobody calls him a 'male playwright.' I think that's why women are rightfully apprehensive."

Fellow BlogHers Stone and Casino – who Stone describes as an "unashamed, unabashed feminist blogger" – will continue the talk about marginalization, identity, and their implications in "Public Square or Private Club: Does Exclusivity Strengthen or Dilute?"

A serious enough take, and it's presented without any snark or sarcasm.

So what's with the overtly sexist cover? I've never been to Austin, but I hear tell it's a liberal town, so maybe they will all "get it." But really, this seems like a rather cheap shot to me. Imagine an African American blogger's conference with a Sambo-like caricature on the cover, or an Anti-Defamation League conference with a caricature of an "evil Jew" with a long hook nose. This cover says that women empowered want to emasculate men (note the three women seemingly doing just that) while lounging around as objects of desire.

If that's the political climate we have in liberal areas, no wonder ERA never passed and forced pregnancy is the political fad du jour.

[My Blogrolling account has lapsed. A new arts blogroll is to come.]

From the Ministry of Children's Indoctrination comes our new protector against those evil-doers: the new NSA mascot: a cutie kittie that, pre-spying scandal, used to have a tougher image:

The NSA updated their children's outreach site recently. In the process, the previous mascot, Crypto Cat, has undergone some changes. Previously, Crypto Cat was a male dressed in a trench coat, but she is now a high school teenager in a midriff-baring sweater.

In addition, the NSA has added new characters to make a spy supergroup known as the "CryptoKids (TM)". The new characters include Decipher Dog, Joules (squirrel), Slate (rabbit), T. Top (turtle), and Rosetta Stone (fox). Each of them have their own special abilities -- they are like the Power Rangers for warrantless wiretaps.

Of course, what do you expect from an administration that seems to have an affection for furry hentai.

catch it and hold it still in your hand, listen to what rises beyond El Norte:

The following is drawn from the text of a speech given on December 24 at the "In Defense of Humanity" conference.

Our Struggle is Against US Imperialism

I Believe Only in the Power of the People

By EVO MORALES

What happened these past days in Bolivia was a great revolt by those who have been oppressed for more than 500 years. The will of the people was imposed this September and October, and has begun to overcome the empire's cannons. We have lived for so many years through the confrontation of two cultures: the culture of life represented by the indigenous people, and the culture of death represented by West. When we the indigenous people--together with the workers and even the businessmen of our country--fight for life and justice, the State responds with its "democratic rule of law."

Cochabamba 1999 battle over water, against Bechtel

What does the "rule of law" mean for indigenous people? For the poor, the marginalized, the excluded, the "rule of law" means the targeted assassinations and collective massacres that we have endured. Not just this September and October, but for many years, in which they have tried to impose policies of hunger and poverty on the Bolivian people. Above all, the "rule of law" means the accusations that we, the Quechuas, Aymaras and Guaranties of Bolivia keep hearing from our governments: that we are narcos, that we are anarchists. This uprising of the Bolivian people has been not only about gas and hydrocarbons, but an intersection of many issues: discrimination, marginalization , and most importantly, the failure of neoliberalism. [...]

And I want to tell you, companeras and companeros, how we have built the consciousness of the Bolivian people from the bottom up. How quickly the Bolivian people have reacted, have said--as Subcomandate Marcos says--ya basta!, enough policies of hunger and misery.

From the BBC, Subcomandante Marcos, the rebel leader of what Naomi Klein calls a "dreaming revolution" emerges:

Mexico's Zapatista rebels are emerging once again from their jungle hiding place in the south of the country.

The Zapatistas are embarking on a six-month tour of Mexico's 31 states as an "alternative project" to the presidential elections.

Chiapas Mexico 2003

Another Calendar: That of Resistance

Place: Mountains of the Mexican southeast. Date: January of 2003. Hour: Dawn. Climate: Cold, rainy, tense. Altitude: Various meters above sea level. Visibility: Without a flashlight you can't see a bloody thing. [...]

If it is true, as, in fact, it is, that life first walked as liquid in the caves that abound in indigenous lands, that the caves were and are the womb which the first gods gave to themselves in order to birth themselves and to make themselves, and that the grottoes are but the hollows left by the flowering of life in the land, as cicatrices, then it is within the land where we can read, in addition to the past, the paths which shall take us to tomorrow.

In this January, the creator couple, Cosana and Xonaxi, embraced the womb of the earth, and they soothed it, in order to turn it into fertile sown fields. Not only so that the rebel struggle which is collective - because that is the only way it can be rebel - might be renewed, but also so the dream might be born with the color of those of us whom are the color of the earth.

Silent history now. And what is silent is always greater than that which speaks. Silence..."

scarlet macaw

Above, a storm greets the macaw's determined flight with lightning...

Below, Monte Albán remains, with its arrow building breaking the monotony of the entire ceremonial complex, warning that there are pieces missing, preventing us from understanding what we are seeing. As if to remind us that what is missing is greater and more marvelous than what we are seeing.

Because when we see what we are now seeing, vainglorious Monte Albán, we futilely seek continuity. In reality, we are only seeing a photograph, one instant, an image of a clock which stopped running on a particular date.

Monte Alban Oaxaca

But it is a discontinuous clock. Only for the powerful is history an upward line, where their today is always the pinnacle. For those below, history is a question which can only be answered by looking backwards and forwards, thus creating new questions.

And so we must question what is in front of us. Ask, for example, who is absent but yet nonetheless made possible the presence of images of gods, caciques and priests.

Ask who is silent when these ruins speak.

gila monster

There are not a few stelai in Monte Albán. They mark calendars which are not yet understood. But let us not forget that they present the calendars of those who held power in those times, and those calendars did not envisage the date in which the rebellion from below would bring down that world. Like an earthquake, the discontent of that time shook the entire social structure, and, while leaving the buildings standing, it did away with a world which was removed from everyone's reality.

Since ancient times, the governing elites have been fashioning calendars according to the political world, which is nothing but the world which excludes the majority. And the disparity between those calendars and those of lives below, is what provokes the earthquakes in which our history abounds.

For every stele which the power sculpts in its palaces, another stele rises from below. And, if those stelai are not visible, it is because they are not made of stone, but of flesh, blood and bone, and, being the color of the earth, they are still part of the cavern in which the future is ripening.

Those buildings which, like plumes, crown the Hill of the Tiger, do not belong to those who raised and maintained them with their effort and wisdom.

"Monumental architecture, in instances such as Monte Albán and other sites of Mesoamerican cultural interest, was a response to the need for a space dedicated to ceremonies, which corresponded to the organizational demands of a priestly social class with a much higher status than that of the average agricultural population. And so the buildings of Monte Albán, from their first period, were used for reinforcing the political system based in religious worship and for maintaining the ruling class in power. The populace in the villages and towns were charged with supplying all the consumer goods for that class, as well as with providing labor for constructing the buildings and for their continuous maintenance. Another obligation was that of providing all the supplies necessary for carrying out the ceremonies and the indispensable human material for those ceremonies." (Robles García, Nelly. Monte Albán. Codees Editores).

jaguar, panthera onca

It was the powerful who enjoyed the work of those of below, the work which raised these buildings, these buildings which are less surprising than the arrogance which destroyed them. Because Monte Albán, as often happens in those spaces where power resides, collapsed from rebellion from below, which was, in turn, provoked by the indifference of those who governed.

The Spanish conquistadors' two-fold lesson of Monte Albán (the advanced development of a culture and the neglect caused by government arrogance) passed unnoticed.

For the Spanish crown of the 16th century, as for the neoliberalism of the beginning of the 21st century, the only culture is the one which they dominate.

Then the indigenous lands were nothing but an abundant source of labor for the Spanish powers, as they are now for savage capitalism. Under the Spanish power, condemned to barbaric forced labor in the mines, almost 90% of the indigenous population of Oaxaca disappeared. But their suffering continued underground, and rebellion was forged in the grottoes, rebellion which today nourishes the color of the earth. [...]

great horned owl

But the powerful do not only purchase history in order to possess it, but also in order to prevent its being read as it should be, that is, looking ahead.

The history of above continues saying "were" to those who still are. It does so because up there the only thing that matters is the exchange of those who are in power. And so time ends for the powerful only when another power replaces it.

Below, however, time continues to flow.

By responding to the unknown posited by the historic past, those below decipher crooked lines, ups and downs, valleys, hills and hollows. That is how they know that history is nothing more than a jigsaw puzzle which excludes them as primary actor, reserving for them only the role of victim.

hyacinth macaw

The piece which is missing in national history is the one which completes the false image of the uniqueness of possible worlds, the current one, but rather the one which includes everyone in its true reach: the constant struggle between those who are attempting the end of times, and those who know that the last word will be built through resistance, sometimes in silence, far from the media and the centers of Power.

La Paz January 28, student protest rally [Reuters]

Only in that way is it possible to understand that the current world is neither the best nor the only one possible, nor that other worlds are not merely possible, but, above all, that those new worlds are better and are necessary. As long as that does not happen, history will remain nothing but an anarchic collection of dates, places and different colored vanities.

The grandeur of Monte Albán will not be completed with the discovery of more temples, tombs and treasures, nor even through the exact reconstruction of its undeniable splendor.

Monte Albán will be complete - and along with that, it will be part of the real history of our country - when it is understood that the ones who made it possible, who raised and maintained it, and whose rebellion undermined the arrogance that inhabited it, are still living and struggling, not so that Monte Albán and its power will be renewed and history will make an impossible backward turn, but for the recognition of the fact that the world will not be complete unless it includes everyone in the future.

The indigenous movement in which zapatismo is inscribed is not trying to return to the past, nor to maintain the unfair pyramid of society, just changing the skin color of the one who mandates and rules from above.

quezalcoatl as plumed serpent

The struggle of the Indian peoples of Mexico is not pointing backwards. In a linear world, where above is considered eternal and below inevitable, the Indian peoples of Mexico are breaking with that line and pointing towards something which is yet to be deciphered, but which is already new and better.

Whoever comes from below and from so far away in time, has, most certainly, burdens and problems. But these were imposed on him by those who made wealth their gods and alibis. And, in addition, those who come from such a long way can see a great distance, and there is another world in that distant point which their heart divines, a new world, a better one, a necessary one, one where all worlds fit...

If, in their long and stupid march, the neoliberals say "there is no culture other than ours," below, with the underground Mexico which resists and struggles, the Indian peoples of Oaxaca are warning: "There are other grottoes like ours."

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos

Insurgente Marcos, who often signs off reminding that the heart beats on the left. And it does. It does.

La Paz indigenous communities protest October 2001

Evo, again:

I believe only in the power of the people. That was my experience in my own region, a single province--the importance of local power. And now, with all that has happened in Bolivia, I have seen the importance of the power of a whole people, of a whole nation. For those of us who believe it important to defend humanity, the best contribution we can make is to help create that popular power. This happens when we check our personal interests with those of the group. Sometimes, we commit to the social movements in order to win power. We need to be led by the people, not use or manipulate them.

Zapatista mural, ESRAZ Rebel Autonomous Secondary School

One benefit from the holidays for me is having the time to just sit and read. I always skim through The New Yorker, plowing through Talk of the Town and and soaking in one or two articles and/or reviews that catch my interest. But it's usually a semi-distracted affair on my part, so I rarely even notice the ads.

I had time to start into this week's issue with some leisure, though, and that afforded me the pleasure of seeing a multi-page ad for Iconoclasts, a miniseries on Sundance Channel celebrating "innovators, ground shakers and rule breakers."

I couldn't help but notice that, out of the 12 iconoclastic movers and shakers profiled, only two are women -- actress Renée Zellweger and CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour.

Meanwhile, the male Iconoclasts featured are:

• Robert Reford (actor)
• Paul Newman (actor)
• Samuel L. Jackson (actor)
• Bill Russell (sports star)
• Tom Ford (fashion designer)
• Jeff Koons (artist)
• Brian Grazer (film producer)
• Sumner Redstone (CEO)
• Mario Batali (chef)
• Michael Stipe (rock star)

To be sure, many of these people have done much more than what they're known for. But let's face it, they're known for being actors and designers and so on.

So why aren't there more women? Yes, we live in a patriarchy and yes men dominate the arts, fashion and entertainment industries, but women account for 53% of the population and, in the creative arts industries, there certainly is not a dearth of female iconoclasts, is there? (Need I post a list?)

Are women deserving of only 16.67% of the honors? (Are Hispanics and Asians so undeserving of any mention? And what is Sumner Redstone doing in this show at all?)

If this were a Fox or NBC product, this kind of bias would hardly be remarkable -- in fact, it would be expected and insisted upon. But this is Sundance, which supposedly is about empowering disempowered voices and supporting progressive causes. With Iconoclasts, Sundance gets a failing grade.

4 more articles including the second part of the Daniel handler interview, imaginary boyfriends, voyerism for girls and a really good piece on a beginner dominatrix that is funny and ultimately heartbreaking.

See you there!

http://www.bitchingandmoaning.org/