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Sunday
May202012

10 Naked Days 

Photo of me and Kendra Holliday by Ariana Bauer

WARNING: If you are a blood relative or know me from church, you may not want to read this blog or follow the links herein. 

I've decided to keep my website and my Facebook feed, relatively work safe. On my tumblr, however, anything goes. So, for those of you who are not easily offended, you may want to follow my tumblr, where from May 18th to May 28th, I'll be keeping a "10 Naked Days" blog.

The idea is that for ten days, I will only wear as much clothing as legally necessary and blog about the logistics, observations and reactions as a result. So far, it's already been pretty interesting, checking my schedule in advance for possible conflicts and sending emails like, "We have an appointment to go over my portfolio on Thursday. Would it distract you if I were naked?" and awaiting the response.
 
The blog is not meant to be profound or particularly insightful, so if the thought and or sight of me without clothes on holds no interest to you, don't think you'll be missing out on any brilliant writing on my part. It's all in good fun and a personal challenge to myself. 
Wednesday
May162012

Sorry Fundamentalists...

Friday
May042012

How The Avengers Should Have Ended

 

INT. SHIELD HEADQUARTERS - DAY

Nick Fury walks into his empty office and retrieves a folder marked "Top Secret" from his desk. Inside he finds a single piece of loose-leaf paper containing a handwritten note. He reads. 

            BRUCE BANNER (VOICE OVER)

Dear Director Fury: We accept that we all had to give up being the stars of our own movies in order to save the world. However, we think you’re crazy to ask us to write an essay on who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, on the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But, what we discovered today is that each one of us is a monster…

              CAPTAIN AMERICA (VOICE OVER)

…and a super soldier…

              BLACK WIDOW (VOICE OVER)

…and a spy…  

              THOR (VOICE OVER)

…and a demi-god…

              HAWKEYE (VOICE OVER)

…and an assassin… 

              IRON MAN (VOICE OVER)

…and a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist.

              BRUCE BANNER (VOICE OVER)

 Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Avengers. 

CUT TO: Iron man puts one fist in the air as he ascends into the sky.

CUE: “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds on the soundtrack.

ROLL CREDITS. 

Wednesday
Mar072012

On Choosing Your Targets

The best photo of Rush I could find. Source krmg.com.

I read this article by Kirsten Powers on the Daily Beast. It’s being circulated on the internet by conservatives in response to the uproar over Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a slut. Powers’ premise is that it’s hypocritical for the left to call for boycotts of Limbaugh for his sexism when she can cite sexist comments by left leaning pundits like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz, Bill Maher, and Matt Taibbi.

Surprisingly, I don’t entirely disagree. I do give Bill Maher something of a pass, because rightly or wrongly, I think of him primarily as a comedian. Howard Stern is way to the right of me and I give him a pass as well because his sexism, racism and homophobia are at least funny. I also think it’s a stretch when Powers cites Matt Taibbi calling Michelle Bachmann “bat-shit crazy” as proof of sexism. There’s nothing gender specific about “bat-shit crazy,” so it’s only sexist if all things being equal, he wouldn’t use the same language about a man. Anyone who followed Taibbi’s coverage of the Bush administration or John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign would agree that there’s nothing unique in his treatment of Bachmann.

As far as Powers’ criticism of the Matthews, Olbermann and Schultz, well, I’m the last guy to defend them. Anyone who follows me on Facebook or Twitter probably knows how useless I think the non-Rachel Maddow line-up at MSNBC is. Although, I will say, there is one glaring omission in Powers’ article. All the examples of sexism that she points to by left leaning pundits, indefensible as most of it is, is directed at politicians or other pundits: Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Malkin, etc. Not exactly shrinking violets, these ladies; all of them entered political and public life of their own free will, all must have known that taking slings and arrows came with the job and all have thrown their own jabs at their political opponents. You won’t have to look hard to find equally inflammatory remarks from right wing pundits against Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama or Rachel Maddow. Lou Dobbs once called Maddow a “tea-bagging queen, “whatever that means.

I think the difference in Limbaugh’s attack on Sandra Fluke is that she is neither a politician nor a pundit. I don’t think that testifying before congress is the same as entering public life in a professional sense. She attacked no one, she simple told her story and those of her classmates. For this, a young woman whose name none of us had heard before and most would have forgotten thereafter, gets called “slut” and “prostitute” by a nationally syndicated radio host with an audience in the millions. The relevant comparison here is not to left pundits insulting female politicians, but to Don Imus’ famous slur against the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.  

Rush’s sin was not just sexism (most of Rush’s constant sexism is ignored by the left, less we get angry at him on an almost daily basis), but a huge miscalculation. What Rush didn’t learn from Imus’ mistake is to pick on someone his one size (metaphorically speaking). When a media giant picks on a private citizen who is a non-combatant, the game changes. It’s the difference between a boxer hitting someone who willing gets in the ring and just randomly punching an innocent by-stander on the street.

Also, Powers accusations of hypocrisy would only hold water if we look at each incident of sexism by pundits as an isolated case. Matthews, Olbermann and Schultz have all been called out by left for their sexism. They have also been champions for women’s issues. Schultz featured Fluke on his talk show to give the testimony that congressional Republicans apparently did not want to hear. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh has engaged in a decade’s long campaign of sexism, calling feminists “feminazis” and female journalists “info-babes.” 

To suggest that the difference between the response to Limbaugh’s (latest) transgression and the response to pundits on the left is hypocritical, is to divorce the incident from all historical context.

As a final aside, to my friends on the right who are defending Limbaugh on free speech grounds, I repeat my refrain: Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. Not for Limbaugh, the corporation that broadcasts his show or the corporations that advertise on it. Rush Limbaugh can say whatever he wants, no one is trying to silence him, but the public can decide whether or not to vote with their dollars with regard to those who choose to associate their brand with his. This is the reason that Harper Collins scrapped plans to publish OJ Simpson’s book. I don’t remember folks on the right jumping to defend Simpson’s right to free speech. 

An official Libertarian Book Club selection...

Wednesday
Feb292012

For Colored Actresses Who’ve Considered Suicide When Hollywood Is Enuf 

I have created a new mathematic equation; I call it The Black Actress Tragedy Index. You take the number of Oscars, Emmys and Tonys that a black actress has been nominated for and you divide that by the number of years between her most recent nomination and said actress' first appearance in a film written or directed by Tyler Perry.

Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with black actors, especially the ones who spent their formative years studying Shakespeare, Chekov and August Wilson instead of learning how to rap or tell jokes. Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with women, especially women over forty who don’t do gratuitous nudity and aren't guaranteed the cover of Vanity Fair the month their movie is released. So for black actresses over forty who can’t sing and don’t show their tits, Hollywood can be a tough road to hoe.

And yet, while America slept, Viola Davis earned two Oscar nominations in four years. The first for going head to head with Meryl Streep on screen and with her second, she went head to head with Meryl Streep in the Oscar race. With the exception of the Motion Picture Academy, just about everyone thought Davis would win, including Streep herself.

I hope two Oscar nominations for Viola Davis means a long and fruitful career.  I hope two Oscar nominations for Viola Davis means she never has to be the black judge on an episode of Law & Order. I hope two Oscar nominations for Viola Davis means she never has to play the bougie black woman with the abusive, dark skinned husband, who falls in love with the light skinned bus driver in the Tyler Perry movie.

But I know that Oscar nominations guarantee nothing. If I was Viola Davis, I’d have Angela Bassett on speed dial.  Not for nothing, but I’d love to see a remake of Thelma & Louise with Viola Davis and Angela Bassett, but instead of robbing banks like Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, they’d be in a drop top caddie on a pilgrimage from Atlanta to L.A. to scatter Danitra Vance’s ashes on the “Y” in the Hollywood sign.

But I remain optimistic. Not only have we seen two Oscar nominations for Viola Davis in recent years, but a nomination for Gabourey Sidibe, and wins for Octavia Spencer, Mo’Nique, and Jennifer Hudson; four thick sisters, all browner than a paper bag. Looks like the red carpet is going to have to get used to women of color, women of size, women with kinky hair, and polyamorous women who don’t shave their legs.

Perhaps we're on the slow road to change, which is a good thing. After all, the only person who benefits from Hollywood’s in ability to create challenging roles for black actresses is… Tyler Perry.