While I've made my feelings about American Apparel clear in thepast, they certainly are making themselves into a moving target. Picking up the slack left behind by Urban Outfitters, AA has introduced a Legalize Gay shirt to their stores (a riff off of their Legalize LA model). Does this have anything to do with their recent drama in San Francisco? And what do we think of the commercialization of activism?
Those of you who have already gotten your hands on a copy of the hot-off-the-presses "Buzz" issue may have seen Janet Miller's interview with artist Jerilea Zempel. Zempel, a radical knitter (among other things), was featured on The Colbert Report a few months back reading a copy of Bitch! Although the print interview with Zempel in "Buzz" has some great information, there is even more to learn about Zempel and her work. Read the full transcript of the interview after the jump!
By now, if you've read any of my posts, you probably know that
I'm a little bit of a Russophile. So when it was my turn to write this
week's Adventures in Feministory, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to talk about the Soviet Union's 588th Night Bomber Regiment during World War Two.
Last night Holocene hosted a benefit show for Portland's Reading Frenzy, one of many fledgling independent bookstores nationwide. Portland is an amazing place full of artists willing to help each other out in rough times, and last night's bill was a perfect example. Read more after the jump!
Barbie will be turning the big 5-0 on March 9 and based on the photo I stumbled across today, half-a-century ain't nothing but a number. Of course, it does help if you're made of plastic. Behold Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie!
Wow, Burger King did it. I was sure Carl's Junior had this in the bag, but no. Burger King has actually succeeded in airing the most sexist fast food commercial of all time. I’m talking, of course, about the ad for BK Burger Shots.
Where do I even begin? Let’s start with the idea that women are so baby-obsessed that they think everything small is a baby. Which leads us to the even weirder idea that when women think they are in the presence of a baby, they make orgasm sounds and want to do whoever is holding said baby/small thing/BK burger shot. But what offends me most is the assumption that hamburgers are so alien to women that they don’t even know you’re supposed to eat them.
I know that I posted a get-ready-for-tomorrow's-Douchebag-Decree-by-reading-about-another-douchebag piece last week, but this week finds me with yet another d-bag on the brain (or rather, the YouTube channel). Enter Asher Roth and his music video "I Love College."
Although this video is full of weird college/frat/gender stereotypes and cheesy lyrics about partying, for some reason I can't stop watching it. (It might be the uber-collegiate sample of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" that plays throughout.) Is this video a postmodern parody of a hypermasculine, idealized version of the college experience? Or is Asher Roth just another creeper who is one beer-pong championship away from sexually assaulting someone? And either way, why is it so weirdly compelling? Watch the video and make the call, after the jump!
Tracy + The Plastics is a one-woman performance art music project that spanned from 1999 to 2006. Its sole driving force, Wynne Greenwood, dreamt up the premise for the project from a murder mystery movie she was writing, and it morphed into a seven year exploration of feminist, queer and political issues using low budget video and simple yet pulsing electronica. Read (and listen! and watch!) more after the jump..