flambingo

career development

the hunt for an alternative career continues. this week: bee keeping (well my fencing kit may double for a bee keepers outfit).

the beeginners guide to bee keeping. answering key questions such as: do bees stain my laundry?, how near to a hive can i use my lawnmover?

ian mackellan

i'm enjoying ian mckellan's website. (i'm also enjoying mckellan brief appearence on the archers victoria wood special - so good that a post victorian age in ambridge is painful to contemplate). the site has a bit of everything, sounds clips on the home page ("ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL"), whirling things, every single font in the book. charmingly retro.

mckellan answers his fan mail like a proper star. someone has written in with the fabulous suggestion that the camp off between magneto/mckellan and xavier/stewart is an enactment of the stonewall/outrage dynamic.

MAGNETO/TATCHELL?

From: Alex

Q: Like other gay men I find that I can relate to the x-men as they face difficulties similar to the challenges that gay men and women have to face. In one way, I admire Magneto because he has a purpose - to create equality but he does so by using extreme measures. While watching the two x-men films it occurred to me that he had characteristics similar with the Human Rights activist Peter Tatchell. Did you base Magneto's character on Mr Tatchell?

A: No, I found Magneto's own personality clear enough not to research elsewhere, although he has been compared to Malcolm X as well as to Tatchell. Maybe Peter models himself on Magneto, although he is not at all a violent person!

homophobia and the threat to women's advocacy

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has produced a report saying that homophobia is a key part of strategies designed to stop women organisting for change.
Written Out : How Sexuality Is Used to Attack Women's Organizing [PDF]

"Lesbian-baiting does not just happen to women doing organizing around sexuality," notes IGLHRC program director Susana Fried. "It is part of a well-developed political strategy, and when women are attacked in this way it is a human rights issue because it threatens women's basic freedoms to mobility, liberty and security."
from the village voice

bad reviews: joe queenan

ah, the pleasure of a truly awful review

"If you have bought this book, you are already seventeen quid down. Cut your losses: don't read it."

an excerpt from the book was published in the guardian, it really was terrible.

embassy court

brighton's finest building is the 20th century society's building of the month. it seems the revelopment is making some intresting discoveries about the building's decor, assumed to be as purist as the isokon.

"The refurbishment of Embassy Court has revealed many of its secrets. Paint research has shown that the walls were a sparkling cream with white marble chippings and the windows a sludgy red colour, with pink cill tiles. These, combined with the original jazzy entrance doors, suggest a more Deco feel to the building than arch-modernists might care to acknowledge"

friends of embassy court
previous entry (deadlinkish)
risky buildings on embassy court (more from the 20C soc)

the seven habits of highly sucessful superheroines

the washington monthly on the failure of the latest rash of superheroine films. basically don't up the titilation, keep heroines on the chirpy side, make them something women actually like, avoid spurious over sexualisation.

"For female fans, the superheroine saga is a fantasy about being in control. Successful heroines defy everyday restraints: They cheat gravity, physically overpower men, and reflect bullets with silver bracelets. The last thing women want to see is Supergirl whining about her boss, suffering through a mid-life career crisis, and being served divorce papers by Superman."
there's lessons for all of us underemployed superdudettes here:

1. Do fight demons. Don't fight only inner demons.
2. Do play well with others. Don't shun human society.
3. Do exhibit self-control. Don't exhibit mental disorders.
4. Do wear trendy clothes. Don't wear fetish clothes.
5. Do embrace girl power. Don't cling to man hatred.
6. Do help hapless men. Don't try to kill your boyfriend.
7. Do toss off witty remarks. Don't look perpetually sullen.

take courage

i pass this on the train in the mornings some days, it's between london bridge and blackfriars.

small ads

small ad found on the street by james, utterly baffling unless there exists a small group of female beard fetishists in central london who indulge thier shameful habit with hired beardwhores.

those commuting seasons, new year to summer

early jan: sales season. expect bulky luggage and shrieking fashonistas
mid jan - mid feb: low season, delays caused by suicides. suicides punished by re-animation and forced employment as train revenue protection officers
mid feb: half term season, expect recalcitrant children being dragged to tate modern for education. fuckwit parents decided to use commuter trains to the disgust of all involved
late feb - early march: the season of hope, promise of snow brings never fulfilled expectation of being snowed in behind the downs. commuters watch each flurry expectantly
early spring: flood season, delays likely. a less joyful hope than snow due to dampness
spring: landslide season. hassocks' seasonal disappearance
may onwards: season of aggressive air conditioning, trains freezing, colds likely, commuters wear scarves
mid may: more half term, fractious sticky children smear chocolate across their spoilt faces while their parents attempt to engender some enthusiasm for the science museum in them
summer: season of actually getting a seat, horror of the london underground grows