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I will happily and proudly call myself a feminist all my life, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to the problems with the movement. This piece from Rookie about the dangers of anger and feminism is a really good read, and I'm impressed by the author's honesty in acknowledging her behaviour and freeing herself from its negativity.
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Anthony Andrews (Sebastian) and director Charles Sturridge discuss how they made Brideshead Revisited 31 years ago. It's a really interesting article: it was such a fraught production, but they made something wonderful out of it.
[Picture taken from article: link below.]
Magda Knight, excellent author and an all round wonderful person, has written a fantastic piece about the recent incarceration of anti-Putin band Pussy Riot. There's a link to an Amnesty International petition at the end of the article, please sign it, this is a terrible injustice and abuse of power.
[Picture taken from article: link below.]
The new Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology reopened in Cambridge recently, and they've put back a wonderful display which inspired a Sylvia Plath poem. This article only makes me more excited to go (I haven't been yet, and I'm feeling guilty about it!)
[Picture taken from Billy Martin's LJ: link below.]
In my final bit of geekery, words cannot describe how happy I was to find this photo of two of my favourite writers, Billy Martin (formerly Poppy Z. Brite) and Neil Gaiman. I think this makes this the third entry in a row to mention Neil Gaiman, but I don't have a problem with that.
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Being a total bibliomaniac myself, I love reading about other people's obsessions with books. This interview with Julian Barnes is a sort of autobiography told through books, and that in itself is enough to make it interesting for me. Despite this, it stuck in my memory particularly because the raciest book he could find when he was young was the Satyrica, an ancient novel I study and one which is particularly infamous for being totally immoral and debauched. This line in particular made me chuckle: 'Foolishly, I assumed all his ancient classics must have similar erotic content. I spent many a dull day with his Hesiod before concluding that this wasn't the case.'
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This is a long read, but there's a reason The Wire is awesome, and this interview explores this really well. Pretty much all of the main cast have been interviewed, and if you know anything about The Wire you know that's a lot of people. Apparently they were so realistic at portraying drug dealers crackheads would try and buy from them, and the whole cast used to live together, smoke weed and go to strip clubs! I'm particularly impressed by their discussions of the racial politics at work here, since apparently Michael K. Williams (Omar) wasn't originally a fan of Stringer's death because it implied that two black men couldn't solve their differences without guns. I'd never thought of it like that, and I think it simplifies the scene rather, but it's still an interesting concern, raised by the actor of one of the most innovative black characters on TV.
[Picture links to here: apparently a still from a video.]
I've not been following the Olympics much, but I am very pleased that British cyclists are doing so well. One thing though that has really impressed me is that they seem to all be really nice people as well as amazing sportspeople (Chris Hoy's parents still always watch him compete and they look so proud of him.) The women's team pursuit riders have smashed the world recod for the sixth successive time, despite being very young (their average age is about 21). In addition though, one of their riders, Jo Rowsell, suffers from alopecia, and overcame low self-esteem in order to become a world-class athlete...again! It's incredibly inspirational, and I hope they continue their gold streak.
[Picture taken from article: link below.]
In other Olympic news, the weightlifter Zoe Smith responded to critics who tell her that she's unattractive with an incredibly clear and cogent argument, the gist of which is 'fuck you I'm awesome.' I'm still blown away by the fact that people even think they have the right to tell her she's ugly: how painfully entitled and chauvinistic is that? Thankfully she's more than capable of holding her own...
'We don't lift weights in order to look hot, especially for the likes of men like that. What makes them think that we even WANT them to find us attractive? If you do, thanks very much, we're flattered. But if you don't, why do you really need to voice this opinion in the first place, and what makes you think we actually give a toss that you, personally, do not find us attractive? What do you want us to do? Shall we stop weightlifting, amend our diet in order to completely get rid of our 'manly' muscles, and become housewives in the sheer hope that one day you will look more favourably upon us and we might actually have a shot with you?! Cause you are clearly the kindest, most attractive type of man to grace the earth with your presence.'
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