Stop using 'Rape' as a catch all verb

The word Rape means Rape. It does not mean "anything bad that happened to me".
Exams and assignments aren't capable of actually raping you. Inanimate objects and abstract ideas are not capable of raping you. One football team is capable of raping another football team, but saying that does not accurately describe what you meant to say, which is that one team won against the other in a game. A GAME. FOR FUN.

From 'Rape is Not Only Hilarious; It's No Big Deal';

Rape is a big deal, and the very least we can do for those who have suffered its excruciating indignity is talk about it with the honesty and gravity it deserves.

Once Again: Rape Is Not Your Personal Metaphor

Rape Culture: Still Not Funny

Passive Aggression: Foregrounding The Object

Sick of your Shitty Movies, Hollywood

I think I am the only person in the world who does not want to see The Hangover. My boyfriend asked me to go, telling me that apparently it's a critically acclaimed comedy, people are going wild over it! That's great dear, and I'm sure other people may find it funny, I'm sure I may even find parts of it funny if I switched off my brain for a while.
The thing is, I'm really not in the mood, ever, to pay money to sit in front of a screen for two hours being assaulted with the Bromosocial way of life, that ideally does not include women. The only women ever involved in these bullshit identical movies that have been spewed forth in a steady vile stream over the past few years are as such;

1. The Mommy-Wife. She nags, she's whiny, she's generally 50% hotter than the husband she is married to, just wants him to do things like "grow up" and "get a job" and "contribute to the relationship" and all those stupid things that only girls do.
2. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl-type Lady. She's quirky and pretty and wears funny clothes and does CRAZY things like; jumps off cliffs into the sea, makes main-character-dude go run out in the rain, laughs at all his jokes, never ever judges a thing he says, politely accepts when he cheats on her.
3. The Ugly/Fat/Old/Drunk Whore. Ew! She's ugly! She's so fat! She's so drunk! She's a "cougar"! One of the main dude characters will have sex with her anyway, but EW! As if anyone would want to put their penis in that! Even though I clearly did!

Chicks in these movies are basically only there to present the main dudebro with the opportunity to learn his big life lesson at the end of the movie where he realises something along the lines of; "Wow, I am a giant turdmonster whose life is a cesspool of idleness. I will make this tiny change and voila, I now have the perfect dudebro life." Cue entire cast singing in rainbow world, or all the main characters circle-jerking about what awesome friends they are. We've come so far, and learnt so much!

So...no, I don't want to watch a movie about dudes, and why chicks are gross, cause they have vaginas, and vaginas are totally gross, but we'll fuck them anyway, and man don't you hate it when your wife nags you, and haha, look at that fat whore. And you know what's funny? PENIS!LOL!

In other news;

• You can have a read of what Sady at Tiger Beatdown has to say about the Hangover.
• Check out the trailer for Woody Harrelson's awesome new zombie movie, Zombieland.
• In case anyone doesn't know, I have an obsession with all things Frankenstein, and I found this the other day - Bride of Frankenstein-inspired nude pinup. NSFW Obviously.
• Short zombie film, I Love Sarah Jane, starring the girl who's playing Alice in Tim Burton's new Alice in Wonderland.
• Monster Island is a serialized online novel about, you guessed it, zombies.
  
• More pimping for Prime geek nightclub which is coming up fast on the 11th of July.
• And one last one, if you're interested in watching movies that don't rely on casual misogyny for laughs, give the Bechdel Test a try. It involves watching only movies that fit the following criteria:

1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.

I aim to give it a go....Will require some research beforehand though.

Oh and for anyone who is close to me/cares, I got booked in for my surgery on the 20th July, and will be out of commission for a week after that. So if you wanna come round and give me casseroles, flowers, massages, cupcakes, ponies, rainbows or just treats in general, I would like that.

RIP Michael

Link Comes to Town Monday

I haven't blogged for a bit because I've been a mixture of all the bad feelings you can have, including but not limited to - pissed off, let down, angry, full of rage, anxious, nervous, worried, fearing for my life, depressed, not wanting to wake up, frazzled, stressed out and did I mention full of rage? That's the feeling I have most. I see red, I see red, I see red.
If anyone has any tips on how to manage anger, other than fucking "count to ten", advice would really be appreciated, because the crescent-shaped scabs on my palms from where my fingernails cut in when I clench my fists are getting really itchy, and my jaw just won't unclench.
ANYWAY! In other news, I just cut my hair, I have a face mask on, I did a whole lot of fucking around today for no reason at all, I was supposed to get my tattoo finished but it's not healed enough yet, I am reading this book about parents who killed their baby girl and it gave me nightmares, I don't think I will have enough money to buy any food this week, and I really hope things are gonna turn out alright but if they don't I can always sell my organs for profit.

Now onto the links!
Earlier last week I made some tweets about what to do in the event that Brisbane's torrential rain and flooding would be the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, and they seemed to be a hit, so if you would like to further create your plans for the end of days, I suggest you check out the Zombie Survival & Defense Wiki and you might live longer than most.

I've been listening to podcasts on the train to & from work lately because it blocks out the sound of all those people just talking and talking and one I particularly like is the New Yorker Fiction Podcast - where authors read out other author's short stories, and it's soothing and there are some EXCELLENT stories, like Shirley Jackson's The Lottery.

Because all I've been doing lately is playing Left 4 Dead (no really, it's ALL I've been doing) and talking about zombies, I'm sure you guys would appreciate as much as me this awesome post on i09.com from last year about Zombie Feminism. As if you even need any more convincing to read it than the title. ZOMBIE FEMINISM.

Speaking of Left 4 Dead, I hate vans.

One for the poorer among us, CookingByNumbers.com is a site where you put a tick in the boxes next to everything you have in your cupboard and it gives you a recipe.

Aaand Cooking Conversions, for when you get recipes given to you with annoying imperial measurements.

I went to a mini twitter meetup on Sunday afternoon at the Fox Hotel for $2 steaks and here's a little flickr photoset to show you just how annoying I can be with a camera.

OMGBREAKINGNEWS I'm talking to my brother on MSN right now and he just sent me this link and HOLYSHIT: Beard.

I will try to write more. I've been trying to do other things more, like read and draw and play video games, so it takes my mind away from my blog. So keep reading, and sending your love down that well.

Monday Links

I had my hours cut at work a few weeks ago and I'm back to 30 p/week. I get Mondays off, so I no longer dread waking up on Mondays. Cause I don't usually wake up until it's half way over!
In light of my great fortune (or misfortune, if you wanna look at it in the way that I lost half my job) I've decided each Monday to share with you some of the awesome links I've found in recent days. So check it.

Probably my favourite and the most well-written post I've read regarding the ongoing NRL saga everyone's talking about, written by monkeytypist: "You can't expect men to..."

An old post at Hoyden about Town titled "Nice Guys (TM) redux and what makes an ideal husband and father" about how the minimum standards of being a civilised human somehow equals an ideal husband and father.

Derailing for Dummies: Making discrimination easier! 'A simple step-by-step guide for derailing conversations by dismissing and trivialising your opposition's perspective and experience. Just some of the many issues you can apply it to: sexism, whorephobia, racism, transphobia, classism, homophobia, ableism, kinkphobia, fatphobia. Guaranteed, you can use it to marginalise anyone!'

This Aussie short indie zombie film from Sundance 2008 that I am in LOVE with and have watched about ten times now. It is called I Love Sarah Jane and it's about ten minutes long and so worth your time. It's actually really heartbreaking and cute.

Definatalie on twitter reminded me how much I love hula hooping and also saddened me because I can't at the moment while my tattoo is healing (it's on my hip). If you're interested in hooping, have a look at these sites...
Instructions for making your own hoop
Online store for hoops and hoop tape
Bunny Hoopstar's site, she's one of the most famous hoopers in Australia - also where I bought my awesome, high quality hoop that's lasted me for years.



Anyone who owns pet rats or is considering getting an awesome pet ratty, head on over to The Dapper Rat, who have the best information and pics on the whole wide intarwebs. Everything from how to set up a cage, ideas for food, health issues for rats, ideas for making your own rat-toys and how to keep your ratties happy.

With all the awesomeness of the new Star Trek movie (which fucking ruled, AMIRITE) I believe y'all should get your drink on with this awesome Star Trek Drinking game which I plan to test out the next time I can actually afford some booze. Highly logical.

This set on flickr from user sajbrfem where she's made a batch of FEMINIST COOKIES that you can give out to those who really deserve it. Oh you think women are people? Have a cookie! You aren't a rapist? Have a cookie! You have female friends? Have a cookie!

And last but not least, I've been listening to Dresden Dolls all day, and someone reminded me yesterday how much I used to be obsessed with Rocky Horror. To the point where all I wanted to do when I grew up was play Magenta/Columbia in a stage show. Still have to work on that. Anyway, to satiate my needs, I've been listening to this non stop: Amanda Palmer playing Science Fiction Double Feature.

Enjoy my lovelies.