Pomegranate Seeds

Bea Arthur 1922 - 2009

2009-04-26T01:49:42Z

One of the most important icons of my adolescence. There are no words.

Thank you for being a friend.

Betty White: "I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much... I'm so happy that she received her Lifetime Achievement Award while she was still with us, so she could appreciate that. She was such a big part of my life."

Rue McClanahan: "Thirty-seven years ago she showed me how to be very brave in comedy. I'll miss that courage and I'll miss that voice."

Angela Lansbury: "Bea Arthur and I first met when we did 'Mame' together in 1965. She became and has remained 'My Bosom Buddy' ever since. I am deeply saddened by her passing, but also relieved that she is released from the pain. I spoke to Matt, her son, yesterday and I was aware that her time was imminent. She was a rare and unique performer and a dear, dear friend."

Nubia! My black sister! (hold on there's context)

2009-04-14T07:11:55Z

Warning: this is a nerdy post about comic books.

So back in the day in the 70s Wonder Woman had a black twin sister named Nubia who was pretty racially problematic but kind of a cool idea? Anyway when DC Comics decided to reboot its whole universe they also rebooted Nubia but they did it in a way that I found really super lame and kind of offensive in a whole different way from the original one.

For info on Nubia and the later version of her (called "Nu'Bia"), check wikipedia here.

Anyway someone on the new scans_daily at InsaneJournal posted a bunch of scans of the original Nubia and then the later one (called "Nu'Bia") and kept mentioning how superior they felt Nu'Bia was to the first one. I feel this is incorrect! And InsaneJournal is broken at the moment so I couldn't register and post my scathing refutation, so I am going to post it here. For reference, here are the two posts about Nubia on the new scans_daily.

First of all, thank you for posting all the Nubia scans.

I have always found the Post-Crisis Nubia (I refuse to dignify the apostrophe) really problematic and disappointing. Obviously the Pre-Crisis Nubia is a product of her time and is distinctly racially problematic, but there's absolutely no reason why a Post-Crisis version of her couldn't surmount that. VIXEN is pretty racially problematic too, and they've handled her pretty well in recent years (aside from those issues with the 'coloring error').

The major problem with Post-Crisis Nubia as presented here is that, in their attempt to defray tokenism, they made her distinctly not African. The Zoroastrian hokum is dreadful and doesn't fit well with the rest of the Wonder Woman cosmology, but most importantly it has nothing to do with Africa. Making Africans something else entirely is not the correct way to solve the problem of racist depiction of Africans. This Nubia should really be a Persian or Median character; there's nothing African about her at all. Obviously a black character need not be defined by her blackness, but this is a character -named- Nubia. She is figured as a representative of her race and continent by her very name, and that cannot be ignored without raising significant problematic questions.

This is all without getting into the elements of the Post-Crisis Nubia that are otherwise disconcerting, such as the fact that she is profoundly bound to a male character (in a way Wonder Woman certainly is not).

I was pleased to see Grant Morrison use a Nubia character in Final Crisis as an alternate universe's Wonder Woman. I'd like to see a new, post-Final Crisis revamp of Nubia in which she acts as an activist, teacher and warrior for the people of Africa the way Wonder Woman does for Europeans and Americans. She's got great potential as a character and could really be a positive force for representation of Africans in a way DC has never really managed; Vixen is African, but very assimilated into American society, while characters like Impala and Freedom Beast have never caught on.

At the end of the day, I'd also really like to see the Pre-Crisis origin restored. Why -can't- Wonder Woman have a black sister? It sounds silly at face value, but it's a profound and lovely statement on the female condition, in my opinion, and now more than ever I think Africa could use a strong female voice in the DCU. Gayatri Spivak says that brown women are tired of white women trying to save them, and that it is time for brown women to be allowed to save themselves. I'd like to see Nubia take up that mantle.

Benazir Bhutto: 1953 - 2007

2007-12-28T11:15:37Z

A personal hero of mine was murdered today. She was always controversial, she made plenty of mistakes in her time, but she was a shining beacon for peace in the Middle East, an end to terrorist extremism, and the furthering of fair and equal democracy.

Benazir Bhutto was the first woman to lead an Islamic nation. She fought tirelessly for peace in Pakistan, despite obvious danger to her own life. After a recent attempt on her life in Karachi that left 140 people dead and hundreds injured, she proclaimed that the perpetrators were "not Muslims", because no Muslim could attack a woman or an innocent man. I'm not a Muslim, obviously, but that kind of moderate liberal thinking in a world dominated on all sides by extremism is a breath of fresh air, a rare gem in the current political landscape, and a welcome statement.

I have no personal attachment to Pakistan. I have no personal investment in the Middle East. But I felt as though someone had punched me in the gut today when I heard about Ms. Bhutto's assassination, because in following global politics over the years I have always looked to her as a role model for the way a world leader is supposed to behave. I can only hope that in death she will become a lasting and enduring symbol for the cause she so fervently believed in.

R.I.P. Benazir Bhutto
1953 - 2007
Martyred in the Pursuit of Justice

I have an Apartment 3-G icon.

2007-08-02T08:15:40Z

And you probably don't.

I was inspired immediately upon reading today's A-3G, which I hope ends up on The Comics Curmudgeon today.

If you aren't already reading The Comics Curmudgeon, because you are ignorant or insane, it can be found at http://joshreads.com/

I hate to say I told you so...

2007-02-19T01:28:34Z

Surgery for gangrened cat... $900

Round trip tickets to Las Vegas... ~$100

Begging your friends to pay for the cat operation and then booking a trip to Vegas... Priceless.

Good times with soulless people.

About Fucking Time

2007-01-09T05:13:34Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/arts/music/08cnd-rock.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Patti Smith is my artistic idol. I was privileged enough to see her at the Bowery for New Year's Eve this year, and it was basically a religious experience.

I go to school outside Cleveland, and I've been boycotting the Hall of Fame until such time as she is inducted... I guess I can visit in March!

eleusis_walks @ 2006-10-26T07:52:00

2006-10-26T07:54:44Z

I can't express how angry I am right now, for what you've said and done to him. But moreover for what you've been doing in all the years (yes it's years now!) that I've known you. And because you locked away your little pity party, you spineless cunt, I'm just going to post my thoughts here.

This is what you do, Karen, and this is what you've always done. You're a spindoctor and a manipulator, and I really hope that someday your horde of sycophants wakes up and realizes just how little of you is in any way genuine. Remember when I was your confidante, and you called me a 'bad friend' because I asked you to stop dragging me into your crazy romantic headspace? Remember when you made me cry again and again because you knew you had that power over me? I've known your true colors for a long time now, and I'm sorry they're not more obvious to the adoring masses. The worst kind of toxin is the one that looks sweet at first glance.

Someday, maybe, you'll grow the fuck up.

My interest collage thinger

2006-08-21T19:18:24Z

Create your own! By ga_woo

I like that the images for 'comics' were invariably porn.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-07-11T16:55:00

2006-07-11T21:06:02Z

This is Beleiri's fault.

1. Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime.
2. Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it.
3. If you want, add up to 3 additional shows.

7th Heaven
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
All in the Family
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/etc.
America's Next Top Model/Canada's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model
Angel
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battle of the Planets
Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Black Books
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Public
Boy Meets World
Buck Rogers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Carnivale
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Clarissa Explains It All - I think this is nearly italics. I was young. :|
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling UK/Coupling US
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi High
Degrassi Junior High
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women - Yeah, I'm a huge fag. I love this show.
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who
Dragnet
Due South
Earth 2
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Even Stevens
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond - I hate this show with a fucking passion, but have seen a few.
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers - Only two. :(
Felicity
Firefly
Flash Forward
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Glactica 1980
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Good Eats
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement - I have vague memories.
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Instant Star
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
Iron Chef
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Joey
John Doe
LA Law
Laverne and Shirley
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Magnum, P.I.
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Ink
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown - This is nearly italics.
Murder, She Wrote
My Life as a Dog
My Super Sweet 16
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
Numb3rs - I've seen two of these.
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Phil of the Future
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Salute Your Shorts
Saved by the Bell
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? - My childhood, for totally.
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City - This is very nearly italics.
Silk Stalkings
Six Feet Under
Sliders
Slings and Arrows
Small Wonder
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Bionic Woman
The Brady Bunch
The Colbert Report
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Famous Jett Jackson
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls - SEE: Designing Women.
The Honeymooners
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Two and A Half Men
Undeclared
Veronica Mars
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK) - Quite possibly italics.
Will and Grace - I think only two. Hate this show.
Wings
WKRP in Cincinnati

Too much television. My brain.

Holy. Shit.

2006-06-26T07:51:53Z

So I have no interest in the "Harry Potter fandom", but a friend linked me to this through fandom_wank, a community that points out crazy drama in fan communities, and it is too insane not to share.

http://www.journalfen.net/users/charlottelennox/

Basically this chick Charlotte Lennox (a pseudonym) has compiled an unauthorized biography of this woman MsScribe, who was a prominent member of the Harry Potter fandom and was apparently secretly responsible for a metric fuckton of their insanity. It reads like a true crime novel. I was engrossed for hours.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-05-17T18:26:00

2006-05-17T22:27:36Z

This is the greatest thing ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z025bcKYJ7s

eleusis_walks @ 2006-05-10T02:51:00

2006-05-10T06:53:39Z

Saw the new psychiatrist today for a medication consult. Nothing serious or different, I just want a second opinion before I head off to another state in the fall. She thinks what I'm on is just fine, though the Wellbutrin is probably unnecessary and I can just stick to the prozac.

In other news, my personal trainer is a pain in the ass but god my shoulders look sexy.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-05-07T01:38:00

2006-05-07T05:40:18Z

My internship is still on, except now I have to do like no work.

Victoly.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-05-04T19:53:00

2006-05-04T23:54:58Z

My Dear Cast and Production Crew –

Yesterday our show hit an obstacle, one of many that we had up until today, been able to overcome. Unfortunately, this production is at a very critical financial juncture, and despite great efforts and wishes on the part of my producers, and myself, to push forward, we have made the extremely difficult decision to pull the plug on this production.

You should all know that your participation, your enthusiasm and your commitment to this play, I’ve greatly appreciated. As any of you may know, this particular play is very dear to me, so having to come to this decision was no small charge.

This is also the first time in the company's eight year history that a production has had to be cancelled, undoubtedly disconcerting to the members of our company. And yet, it was the right decision to be made considering potential financial consequences, and of course, artistic integrity.

So many of you were so very right for the roles you were cast in, I can’t help but say it crushes me a little to think of your wonderful work dissipating away like dust. Therefore, it has been offered to me and in turn to you to perform Hay Fever as a reading on a date in the near future. And it should be made clear, that simply, this was a case of a rather unfortunate series of coincidences, so it is quite probable that Hay Fever will come around again – in that event, you can be sure you’ll be hearing from me.

I’ve left messages with most of you, and not yet been able to reach some of you, so when you have a chance, please feel free to give me a call.

Best to you all & my sincere apologies,
Leah Wendt

***

This better not fuck up my internship, as it's way too late to get a new one.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-05-03T18:46:00

2006-05-03T22:52:14Z

Silly book meme.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

The absolute closest were Watchmen and Waiting for Godot. The former has no page numbers, the latter does not have 123 pages. So here is the third closest.

Scott Adams - The Way Of The Weasel

"Weasel communication is popular in other fields too, from politics to parenting to romance. It's important to protect the ones you love from the truth, especially if you're afraid of what they might do to you when they find out. It's also important to keep the truth from your enemies."

I am in love.

2006-05-01T17:46:28Z

Stephen Colbert, if I had a uterus I would bear your children.

Pwnt.

DONE!

2006-04-28T17:38:06Z

No more class.

Oh God, so tired.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-04-26T00:46:00

2006-04-26T04:47:34Z

Three more days.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-04-24T01:24:00

2006-04-24T05:25:31Z

One more week.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-04-21T00:29:00

2006-04-21T04:31:05Z

It's All About YOU meme (sheisted from erispope)
If you comment...

1. I'll respond with something random I like about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll name something we should do together.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me (or just me).
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll leave you a quote that is somehow appropriate to you.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal so you can do the same for other people.

Stupid memes.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-04-20T22:15:00

2006-04-21T02:32:24Z

Liz had to drop out of the play, so I'm essentially stuck with Judith the raving bitchwoman for a month. Sour times.

I'm totally going to fail my calculus final tomorrow.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-04-19T00:11:00

2006-04-19T04:28:25Z

So the old broad playing Judith (my character's mother) in Hay Fever is an unbearable prima donna bitch. She will not stop arguing with the director and we're only in blocking right now.

So my character is on stage with Judith and Sorel (his sister, played by my friend Liz). Actual exchange follows.

Director: Okay, Judith, I need you to cross and stay over there on stage right.

Judith: I'm not moving and stopping on a dot on the stage again until you give me a reason to do so. Why should I stop there?

Director: Because I asked you to.

Liz and Myself, in Unison: Because she's the director.

Judith: She's not Hitchcock, and I'm not being paid enough to just follow orders.

Director: Excuse me?

Judith: Nothing, nothing.

This is the first week of rehearsal. I may strangle her before opening night.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-04-17T00:09:00

2006-04-17T04:11:26Z

beleiri managed to convince me to play Guild Wars again. I do not know why I let this woman control my brain, but she is insidious like that.

Nearly done with class and ready to start my internship. Life is good.

So tired.

Yeah, yeah, it's a meme.

2006-04-14T17:12:50Z

I thought this one was amusing, though.

What Kind Of Superhero Are You? by electronicoffee
Your Username
Your First Name
Your Superhero Last Name	Lifeshine
Your Weapon	Dagger of Destruction
Your 1st Superpower	Meta Flight [wings]
Your 2nd Superpower	Psychic Explosion
Your Weakness	You Never Listen To Your Heart
Who You Fight Against	The Crack In The Universe

Quiz created with MemeGen!

The Crack in the Universe? Jesus, that's a bit of a lofty opponent.

eleusis_walks @ 2006-04-13T03:55:00

2006-04-13T07:57:28Z

Got the part in the Noel Coward play. Rock.

So the guy who completely wrecked my head last year has shown up again, sneaking around pretending he's someone else. I sent a little note telling him off, and I feel so fucking good right now.

It was a good day.