Why isn't 'Batgirl' a valid career choice?

So, remember awhile back when I posted about the Imeem My Chemical Romance contest?  Where you created a playlist and entered to win one of the final copies of The Black Parade is Dead boxed set?

I won.


My boxed set came in the mail yesterday and I hastily opened it before heading out to see Maroon 5 and the Counting Crows (coverage to follow when I get my pictures edited, should be Monday!).  Of course, the biggest question was, which mask did I get?


Why, it's Bob Bryar's awesome mask of awesomeness. 


I'm planning to hang it on my wall at some point in the near future.  I'm just really glad I got one of the two I really, really wanted.  I'm so impressed with Bob's mask!

Sorry, needed to gush!

So, in case you've been living in a cave, the Jonas Brothers are everywhere. On the radio, on television, and hey, they might have even decided to give Buzznet a try!  Plus, they're running around promoting causes such as diabetes awareness and getting kids to get outside and get active. Jonas Brothers everywhere...

While fans have waited impatiently through My Chemical Romance's self-imposed hiatus, the boys in the band haven't exactly stopped working.  While they haven't been concentrating on My Chem, Gerard Way revealed to MTV that the members have been keeping busy with other projects while they gear up to write and record their third major label studio album. Details please...

In anticipation of their new CD Fast Times at Barrington High, the boys of The Academy Is... have released their first video from the album. For details read on...

So, two things that are currently true about me:

1) I am overweight
and
2) I am brand conscious.

This is not to say I am a brand whore.  But I will admit there are certain names and labels that catch my eye and are more likely to make me splurge.  Now, keep in mind when I say this I'm talking about getting these things at a T.J. Maxx where they're drastically reduced, but a Juicy Couture bag can still run around $150 and Betsey Johnson shoes aren't exactly cheap.

But I do know of at least one brand I won't be buying, even on sale.

Oh, Ecko, how you've pissed me off.

Jezebel.com reported last Friday on the new ad campaign by Ecko, featuring bikini-clad women working in their factory.  Now, that in and of itself doesn't bother me.  Oh no, women in bikinis in a place where bikinis shouldn't be worn.  That's new and innovative right there.

The problem is Ecko's decision to use viral marketing to make themselves look like the sort of sexist pigs who would, well, base an entire ad campaign around the idea of "hot women make our clothing, so you should wear them."  Most notably, a fake news story on their website called "Unattractive Girl Sues Ecko!"

HA!  See, it's funny because they're discriminating against her because of how she looks!  She's not pretty and thinks she should work there!  Hysterical.

Oh, wait, that was my sarcasm getting out of control again.

You know why this isn't funny?  Because we do live in a world where so many people are judged by their looks.  Where worth in both the cases of men and women can be judged on how traditionally attractive they are.  If you're a little too skinny, a little too heavy, if you're a little too imperfect, sorry.  You're not as "good" or as "worthy" as someone who's perfect.

Except...nobody's perfect.

Yeah, there are people you might think have the perfect body.  Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Heidi Klum, Vin Diesel, Tyra Banks, all of them are absolutely gorgeous people.  But in the end, they're not perfect. 

Consider that we still live in a world where Jennifer Love Hewitt was called "fat," where tabloids obsess over Britney Spears gaining or losing five pounds, where both women's and men's magazines tell you how to get the "perfect" body.  Where men and women both are driven to over dieting, eating disorders, hating their bodies all over not being able to be Hollywood gorgeous.

So yeah, it's TOTALLY funny for a fashion company to make fun of people who are turned down for jobs because they're not conventionally attractive.  Because discrimination like that never happens in the real world.

I'm not calling for a boycott on Ecko.  I'm not even saying we should pay attention to this bullshit ad campaign for more than twenty seconds.  Because that's what they want.

Instead, let's just get smoothies and maybe do some yoga.

I will begin by saying that this is in reaction to a lot of things, but was finally set off by comments in Wendy's fantastic Virgin/Whore complex journal, as well as from reading a fantastic blog entitled Yes, You Are.

I can't tell you the number of times I've been in a political conversation with another woman and, when we've gotten onto the topic of women's rights, they say something along the lines of "Well, I believe in equality, but I'm not like a FEMINIST or anything!"

More than that, I've seen people use "feminist" as an insult.  "Oh, you only think that because you're a FEMINIST and you hate men!"  "You only hate those books because you're such a FEMINIST!" 

Am I supposed to apologize for being a feminist?  Because, you know what?  Up until a year ago, I did.

Let me explain.  Through high school I proudly wore the label, unashamed of my desire for equality.  I was a tomboy, a drama geek, I was bad at science and math but good at english and music, I was in choir and I lifted weights.  And I was a feminist.


College?  College got bad.  I've been there, talked about that.  But needless to say there was a person in my life who made me feel guilty for being a feminist, for women wanting the same level of respect and rights that men had.  In fact, it wasn't until a heated argument late in our relationship over the WNBA that I realized how much I had changed.  It was when he expected to say that "the women of the WNBA shouldn't expect anyone to respect them, because why would anyone care about women's sports?" and for me to just smile and nod that I realized what had happened.

I snapped back that it wasn't exactly fair to expect extremely talented female athletes to just stop playing when they left college because there was nowhere else for them to go.  The WNBA wasn't formed for guys like him, it was formed because these women deserved the same rights as male players did, the right to be able to use their skills to make a living and the right to be recognized as talented PROFESSIONAL athletes. 

Apparently, my "friend" was of the opinion that once a female athlete graduated from college, she should settle down and play occasionally in a neighborhood league and maybe keep her skills up for the Olympics every four years, but mostly she should just get married, have kids, and coach a local youth or high school basketball team because what achievement could be greater than that.

And hey, that's still a hell of an achievement.  Helping young athletes, male or female, to learn the game and have fun and stay fit?  That's huge.  But at the same time, why should that be a woman's only option.  Why shouldn't she be able to be a wife, a mother and a professional athlete.

Even for awhile after he and I parted ways, I didn't call myself a feminist.  Because people heard it and thought "female supremicist."  Which certainly isn't true.



It was actually bulletproofheeb who convinced me to stop being ashamed.  He told me that women like I shouldn't run from the term "feminist," we should embrace it.  Because why should we let the crazy women who don't want equality have it?  It's OUR word, it applies to us.  And it's time for us to take it back.

I don't apologize for being a feminist.  And no woman who truly believes in equality should, either.  That word is yours, it's ours, and letting it be redefined by women who are WRONG isn't what we need to be doing.  We need to be standing up, whether we're wearing make-up, rolling in the dirt, raising kids, running a corporation, shooting hoops, shopping for jewlery or hell, a combination of them all, and saying "Fuck you.  I'm a feminist."

And guys?  If you feel the same way, you can come too.

You might think that being a 20-year-old bassist for a band like The Academy Is... would go to someone's head.  After all, the second the band stepped on stage last Tuesday in Pittsburgh, PA, there were high pitched screams of "WE LOVE YOU SISKY!" from the audience. Adam Siska has SKILLZ! Find out what they are...

Tat- Noun. 1. Rubbish, junk. Abb. of tatty. E.g."You can't wear that old cardigan, it's tat." {Informal}

TAT- Noun. Three piece band from London, England, that will rock your f*cking world. You're gonna wanna know more...

So for those of you who haven't been following the saga of Amy Winehouse, I'll fill you in.  Basically, she was admitted to the hospital in mid-June after she fainted.  She was released a few days later and warned that if she continued to smoke, drink and do drugs, she would die.  Quickly.


Three days after her release, she was caught smoking and walking around with three bottles of liquor in her hand.

Then, just last week, she was photographed smoking a joint.

THEN, just this Tuesday, she was rushed to the hospital again.  Her father claims it was because her drink was spiked with ecstasy. 

I don't think "spiked" is the word you're looking for, Mitch.  I think you meant "mixed" or "chased."

So now she's resting at home.  And getting deliveries.

Wednesday:



I see only two logical conclusions to this.

1) Wine house  became a vampire right after she was released from the hospital and told that she'd die if she didn't stop smoking, drinking or doing drugs. Obviously the Amy Winehouse solution was to become the undead.  So she's mixing the blood into the Slush Puppie machine.

OR

2) She's decided to take a page from Elizabeta Bathory and bathe in the blood of virgins to maintain/regain her youth.  While drinking Slush Puppies.

Amy, some quick tips of things to watch out for:

• Sunlight
• Fire
• Crucifixes
  
• Lily Allen, The Vampire Slayer