Your New Favorite

Parish

“ I won’t miss Citizens United Not Timid (no acronym, please), an anti-Clinton group founded by Republican guru Roger Stone. […] I will not miss the deafening, depressing silence of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean or other leading Democrats, who to my knowledge (with the exception of Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland) haven’t publicly uttered a word of outrage at the unrelenting, sex-based hate that has been hurled at a former first lady and two-term senator from New York. Among those holding their tongues are hundreds of Democrats for whom Clinton has campaigned and raised millions of dollars. Don Imus endured more public ire from the political class when he insulted the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

-Marie Cocco, in her Washington Post editorial called “Misogyny I Won’t Miss.”

She enumerates the things she won’t be missing when the primary is over. I’m an Obama supporter but a significant portion of the criticism directed at Clinton has been sexist. I’ve heard progressive-thinking male friends of mine denounce her for being ‘shrill.’ Not only is that a totally empty critique, but it’s also one soley based on her gender. There are plenty of things unrelated to the fact she has a vagina to criticize her for.

May 14

“ Real hourly wages for most workers, on the other hand, have risen only 1% since 1979, even as those workers’ productivity has increased by 60%. What’s more, American workers now clock more hours per year than their counterparts in virtually every other advanced economy, even Japan. And unless you haven’t read a newspaper for 15 years, you already know what’s happened to workers’ health insurance and pension plans. Thomas Frank, Wall Street Journal.

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Speed Racer

Don’t let the critics scare you away from seeing “Speed Racer.” I was one of the ten people who saw it on opening weekend and it was a lot of fun. Sure, it was about 30 minutes too long, but so is every movie these days.

The visual effects are amazing, the dialogue is knowingly-cheesy (John Goodman’s grunts are a perfect call-back to the animated series), and the races are genuinly exciting to watch. The theater I was in last weekend was about half-full, but when the credits rolled, everyone applauded (which is unusual in a theater anywhere but Hollywood.) I have a feeling this film might be more popular when it comes out on DVD, but don’t wait until then, go see it on the big screen.

May 13

The Giant Pool of Money If you’ve been wondering how exactly this whole mortgage crisis came about, This American Life breaks it down in last weekend’s episode. It’s definitely worth listening to.

May 12

Photographic reenactments of childhood drawings! What a great idea, and so well executed. Go see the others here.

[via Evany]

May 9

Yellow Tree: my favorite tree on Bernal Hill. Inspired by Heather’s composites.

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“ Is he Islamic or is he not?” Pasley says of Obama, who is Christian. “I know he’s tried to talk about it but he hasn’t looked anybody in Wayne in the eye and told them. USA Today. Because all that controversy with Obama’s Christian pastor wasn’t proof enough for the citizens of West Virginia. Sigh.

May 8

“ Transit stations at 2 a.m. are invariably cold and populated by desperate people gone crazy from being prodded every time they fall asleep. They are what my psychographic imagines it is like to wait for death. Moe from Jezebel, in “Ten Days in the Life of a Tampon,” the grossest and funniest blog post I have ever read. Heed her warning at the beginning of the post, and read on if you have the stomach for it. She is a brave lady to share so much (so much!) detail.

May 7

Aaron Eckhart as Two Face A much more sinewy Two Face than we’ve seen before. Eep.