Fergus Noodle

It’s a cold that you can hear following you, down wind tunnels and across hard, grey concrete surfaces skimming them like rocks across the pond and finding every tiny crevice in your clothing to seep through. It’s the cold that tells you in no uncertain terms that winter is here. Yes I’m a sook when [...]

By Andrea Plaid

Recall the previous post about Guante’s vid and its takeaway about being PC is really about not being a jackass. Well, this next pop cultural item is exactly why political correctness came into being in the first place.

Longtime Racialicious homie Angry Asian Man tweeted this:

The shit he’s referring to is the latest anti-Asian vid called “Asian Girlz” by some band called Day Above Ground. Well, one person didn’t listen…

Sis, I learned from your example. I listened and didn’t watch, but I did try to read the lyrics to understand why AAM said what he said. All I’m going to say is prepare yourselves for gross amounts of fuckery.

Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl

I love your sticky rice
Butt fucking all night
Korean barbecue
Bitch I love you
I love your creamy yellow thighs
Ooh you’re slanted eyes
It’s the Year of the Dragon
Ninja pussy I’m stabbin’

Asian girl, You’re’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl

Superstitious feng shui shit (what)
Now lay your hair by the toilet
I’ve got your green tea boba
So put your head on my shoulder
Your momma’s so pretty
Best nails in the city
Pushing your daddy’s Mercedes

Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian girl, You’re my asian girl

New Year’s in February (February?)
That’s fine with me (I guess)
Yeah, shark soup (What? Fuck it, we’ll eat it)
Oh, tradition, tradition, tradition, yeah yeah
Baby, you’re my Asian girl
You’re legally (best kind)
So baby marry me
Come on sit on my lap (right here baby)
Or we’ll send you back
And you age so well
I can barely tell
17 or 23?
Baby doesn’t matter to me

Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, You’re my Asian girl
You’re my Asian girl, She’s my Asian girl
Yes, my Asian girl, You’re my asian girl

Arcadia
J-Town
Alhambra
K-Town
Temple City
Don’t forget Chinatown
Get down
Happy endings all over
Bruce Lee
Toyota
Spicy tuny
Sashimi
Tasty Garden
Fried Lice
Sailor Moon
Wonton soup
Spring roll
Tibet
Foot rub rub a down down down
Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra
Tofu
All over you all over me

Suffice to say, I couldn’t get through the first verse. (And, no, I’m not going to post or link to the video. If you want to go find it, go for it.) And I wasn’t the only one…

One tweeter had this to say:

And it’s the randomness coupled with the extreme fetishization and ugly stereotypes that got folks mighty upset about this song and rightfully calling out the band’s racist ditty. Just from my own timeline:

 

Racialicious pal Dr. Sarah Jackson summed up the vid’s pop-cultural wrongness best in 140 characters:

Of course, the band came back with some fauxpology about “intentions” and whatnot, according to Colorlines:

While the song has already generated lots of controve[rsy], the band defended itself on its YouTube page, writing the following note:

“We appreciate all the criticism and support. Our song “Asian Girlz” was not written with any malicious, hateful, or hurtful intent. We know it is racy and does push the boundaries further than other songs out there. Understand that we do not promote or support racism or violence. We love everyone no matter what race, religion, or sexual orientation. Please respect our decision to delete any violent, insensitive, or hurtful comment and also one that supports racism. We hope that we can continue with our lives with much love and peace.”

Just because someone didn’t intend to be racist doesn’t erase the impact of their actions.

Pretty much.

Huffington Post reported that the video model, Levy Tran, did her own intention-based apology:

Bless her heart.

I asked my reproductive-justice pal Alison Park Roh, who teaches Asian American Studies at Hunter College in New York City, her thoughts about the video and the ensuing controversy. I quote her at length:

People are throwing around the words ‘racist’ and ‘offensive’ to describe Day Above Ground’s “Asian Girlz” video. That’s letting them off easy. I think it’s true that their so-called ‘tongue-in-cheek’ humor is just giving words and images to how a lot of men and women of all races, including what Asian men and women internalize, perceive Asian women. That doesn’t make dehumanizing that group okay or ironic.

Joe Anselm, Drew Drumm, Steve Reese, Mike Tourage, Marcello Lalopu–the singers in this unfortunate and untalented bunch–are singing about stabbing p*ssies, statutory rape, deportation of immigrant woman, women’s bodies as food, and Asian people, cultures, and histories as interchangeable. That’s not offensive–it’s outright violent and misogynistic, especially considering there is hardly an Asian woman or young girl in the U.S. who hasn’t been subjected to some form of racist sexual violence that invoked the language that Day Above Ground is so fluent in.

Day Above Ground draws upon a centuries-long white European and American colonial obsession and misrepresentation of Asian sexuality, from Marco Polo to Miss Saigon, Full Metal Jacket to the Hangover Part 2. And not only are they misrepresenting us in a viral fashion, they are directly contributing to a pervasive history of white supremacist male violence against Asian women. That violence is rooted in the American government going to Asia to extract resources and cheap labor and American men going to Asia to restore their sense of a ‘lost’ masculinity–both at the expense of millions of peoples’ humanity, lives and livelihood, and a legacy that Asian American women have to live with to this day.

Talk about baby steps (no pun intended). Not even a year ago,  Savita Halappanavar died after being refused a life-saving abortion in Ireland. Her story brought international attention to exactly how strict the staunchly Catholic nation’s abortion ban was.

In 1992 the Supreme Court did rule that abortions were allowed in cases where the pregnancy was life-threatening. Unfortunately this decision was too vague and not enough to save Halappanavar’s life. This is why the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill was so important. The bill passed in the first vote earlier this month and President Michael D. Higgins signed it into law today.

“The law permits abortions to alleviate life-threatening conditions, including a woman’s own threat to commit suicide if refused a termination.”

Some of us recognize that this new law still puts Ireland a long way from achieving reproductive justice. But for a country that has a 14 year maximum sentence (reduced from life) for those who undergo abortion, this is a tiny step in the right direction. Hopefully it broadens the dialogue about reproductive rights in the Emerald Isle.

Did you hear? Tim Allen has advice for black folks on how to react to “the N word.” The Home Improvement star offered (among other gems) this bit of wisdom:

“You want to take the power away from that word so that no one is offended by it…If I have no intent, if I show no intent, if I clearly am not a racist, then how can ‘n—–’ be bad coming out of my mouth?”

Right.

At The Grio, Elon James White sets Allen (and those who think like him) straight:

“Racism doesn’t come with a barcode scanner that checks each person for their actual feelings when they use problematic language. Another thing that perhaps Allen didn’t know: you can participate in racism without taking on the mantle of “racist.” Racism doesn’t come in only one flavor. Poorly executed but well-meaning acts can still add to the problem.

Allen seems confused by the fact that Martin Lawrence might use the word ni**er with him but then he’s not allowed to go use it later on. His “European mind” doesn’t understand that. Well here’s a newsflash, sir: Your “European mind” doesn’t have to understand it. It would be nice though if your European mind might take a little time and learn about things like “historical context” and “complexity.”

Read more…

 

First female group to have an album certified diamond. Highest grossing tour by a female band, ever. Grammy’s. Billboards. They are the second best selling female group of all time, behind the Spice Girls (tough act to follow, I know). They are the legendary group known as TLC!

The Atlanta-based R&B/rap/hip-hop trio also tackled issues like racism, sexism, safe sex, and HIV/AIDS awareness, through their lyrics and by talking about, holding and wearing condoms (see photo above.)

This fall VH1 is releasing an biopic CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story,  about their early years up through the tragic death of member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. You can expect Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee) to play Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, Drew Sidroa (That’s So Raven) as Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, and Lil Mama (America’s Best Dance Crew, and more notably, Jay-Z stage crasher) as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. I can’t wait for the premiere!

This is some serious girl power. Watch the trailer below the jump.

By Andrea Plaid

Check out this really righteous video from two-time National Grand Slam Poetry champ Guante about what “being PC” is really about:

Ms Kim Hollingsworth appeared in Sydney Central Local Court on Monday and was convicted of 11 charges of animal cruelty relating to horses in her care. Ms Hollingsworth was ordered to pay professional costs of $49,180.63, witness expenses of $10,876.60 and veterinary fees of $88,403.36. The RSPCA was awarded custody of 12 horses that had been seized from Ms Hollingsworth and a prohitibition order was also placed on Ms Hollingsworth prohibiting her from owning more than 20 horses for two years.

On Friday 10 February 2012 RSPCA Inspectors were called to a property at Cobbitty after receiving a complaint about horses on the property. Upon arrival Inspectors spoke with Ms Hollingsworth and a number of horses were identified and examined. On Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 July 2012 an inspection of three properties on which the woman kept horses resulted in the seizure of 11 animals on veterinary advice.

26 horses in Ms Hollingsworth's care were determined by veterinary examination to be severely underweight with a body condition score of 1.5 or lower. 31 horses in her care were also found to be suffering from intestinal parasites (worm burden). Whilst in the RSPCA’s care, some of the more underweight horses increased their body weight by over 60kgs.

Following expiration of the 28-day appeal period, the seized horses deemed suitable for rehoming will be made available for adoption.

Judgement and Charges

Ms Hollingsworth initially pleaded NOT GUILTY to all charges however changed her plea on the last day of a seven-day hearing to GUILTY. She was convicted of 11 charges of animal cruelty, ordered to pay professional costs of $49,180.63, witness expenses of $10,876.60  and veterinary fees of $88,403.36. Custody of the 11 horses seized on 18 July 2012, and subsequent foal born from one of the horses, was awarded to RSPCA NSW. A prohitibition order was also placed on Ms Hollingsworth prohibiting her from owning more than 20 horses for a period of 2 years.

majortvjunkie:

so much drama in one photo

worb:

sabrina the teenage witch hired this balding man to play a high school student

uccloud9:

Saw this at target today! I need a corgi so I can buy this couch cover!!

Or maybe the couch cover comes with free corgi!

McDonald’s has distributed a pamphlet showing employees how to make a budget and stick to it.  As you can see, the pamphlet is a joint effort by McDonald’s, VISA, and (apparently said with a straight face), Wealth Watchers International.  The “key to your financial freedom,” they say, is keeping a budget journal.

Here’s the sample budget McDonald’s uses:

The budget is encouraging, to say the least.  With an income of $2060 a month, a 2-earner family can save $100 each month.

But do you notice anything missing?  Food, for example. Presumably, that comes out of the $27 a day in spending money.  Transportation costs? Car payments are included, but not gasoline or upkeep. On an income of $24,000 a year, will this family have a car that needs no maintenance?  And if the two earners have only one car, it’s likely someone will have to take public transportation to work.  Oh, wait  – maybe they both work at the same McDonald’s. And they never buy clothes.

I’m not sure how McDonald’s employees get health insurance for $20.  Or home heating for free.

I compared this budget with those found at the The Economic Policy Institute, which has a “Family Budget Calculator.”  You enter the location and the number of adults and children, and it shows the budget for “a secure yet modest living standard.”  Since McDonald’s used a 2-earner family, I imagined a family with two adults and one child.  Here’s what they would need in San Antonio.

Here’s a northern city, Akron.

Both cities require a monthly income of $4400 for a modest living, more than double what McDonald’s envisions for its employees.  The big difference is health care – $1200 a month is a lot more than $20.  Then comes transportation ($600 vs. $0).  Then there’s the $580 for childcare, an item that is also absent from the McDonald’s budget.  (Apparently, workers at Golden Arches are part of that low-fertility problem that some observers in the Wall Street Journal worry about – here for example).

As for daily spending, food alone, at $600, more than wipes out what the McDonald’s budget suggests. Perhaps McDonald’s assumes that the family eats most of their meals on site, taking advantage of the 50% employee discount.

So much for the spending part of the McDonald’s budget.  What about the income part?  The Glass Door  posted these pay ranges for various positions.

Workers might get as little as $6 or even $5 per hour.  The average seems closer to $7.  Fast food is not covered by federal minimum wage, but let’s use that $7.25 as a default estimate.  A forty-hour week, four weeks a month, comes in at $1160 – very close to the $1105 in the McDonald’s sample budget. So that side of the balance sheet is fairly realistic.

That annual income of just under $24,720 is above the official poverty line – $19,530 – but not by all that much.  Given the omissions in the expense column, I would think that a family would find it very hard to live on that little.  And I doubt they could sock away $100 in savings, no matter how much “journaling” they did.

Cross-posted at Montclair SocioBlog.

Jay Livingston is the chair of the Sociology Department at Montclair State University. You can follow him at Montclair SocioBlog or on Twitter.

(View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages)

depressionista:

• smh - saddling my horse
• ham - horse and me
• wtf - washing the fetlocks
• lmao - love me an ‘orse

Paraphrasing Donald Rumsfeld, there are things we know and things we don’t know, and things we know we don’t know and things we don’t know we don’t know. One thing many working people in American don’t know that they don’t know is how poor our social benefits are compare with those enjoyed by workers in [...]

Dear SM Entertainment,

I’m a long-time listener of the mostly poop you guys release. Because I’ve been listening for so long and have spent so much time, money, and effort on your products, I had a couple of questions I was hoping you guys would be able to answer!

Is that all there is to f(x)’s comeback? Is it that hard for SM to show some understanding of cohesion? Is “don’t start something you can’t finish” that hard to wrap its head around? Does SM have no artistic standards? Does nobody in SM ever feel bored of their own shit?

(...)
Read the rest of Questions for SM Entertainment (250 words)

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Post tags: f(x), SM Entertainment

The post Questions for SM Entertainment appeared first on evacuatewithstyle.

This little girl made my Wednesday.

A USC student was told that she wasn’t raped because her assailant didn’t orgasm. Relatedly, UCS is facing a federal investigation for its handling of rape cases.

Donate to help fund the the new film TransParent that Mychal covered today.

An investigation has been launched at Fort Carson multiple soldiers have been accused of ”sexual misconduct” involving female minors.

Despite the persistent myth, “crack babies” continue to not be a real thing.

A Pennsylvania county is defies state law and beginning to marry same-sex couples.

The worst of white folks.

scootermoto:

my dad made a skyrim character and named him dad

mabisthequeen:

theeppytomymacca:

This is actually the best thing ever.

You get a record AND 6 articles of undergarments? Dude, I bet these things sold like hotcakes.

And they have fucking record prints on them, omg.

pumicegirl:

all of these people are elements of my psyche

stunningpicture:

The animal handlers at the Oregon Zoo took Elephant around to meet some other animals. The sea lions were her favorite.

squeezebottle:

reaill:

yeffyaboyuice:

manwaifu:

>:I

My people

Although I’ve heard and have had friends attend “Christmas in July” dinner parties, I’ve never been to one for some reason.

I’m so very glad that this has been rectified! We tried sticking to the daggy jumper theme, but as it turns out – none of us had any really daggy ones haha.

We decided to make this a pot luck dinner and everyone chip in for the ham.

We of course had the staple buttered peas (made by D) and roast potatoes (by K and L) as sides to any sort of roast. C made these fabulous the polenta chips with gorgonzola sauce, adapted from Food52′s recipe. The recipe calls for 4 cups of water for the polenta chips, but C substituted 2 cups milk and 2 cups beef stock instead.

Linda banged out this amazing chicken and leek pie that was an instant hit with everyone. It was a good thing she made two as well! We totally smashed them both.

C and W used a whole pumpkin to make their splendidly smooth and creamy soup. I’m totally kicking myself now for not grabbing some of the leftovers – would have been perfect to go with the leftover ham, roast beef, and a toasty bread roll!

I accidentally double-booked this dinner and a catch-up with an interstate friend whom was in Sydney for a wedding, so I was most grateful when the guys suggested S come along as well. Her contribution was a tarty salad tempered by the wonderfully squeaky and salty pan seared haloumi, as well as some smashing vegan chocolate chip cookies (which I’m kicking myself for forgetting to take some home).

The garlic mash potatoes, I must admit, wasn’t my best – using a light version of a cream or milk just really doesn’t cut it! F commented that I just needed a bit more salt, but for me, I felt that it was missing that delectable decadence that indicates loads of butter and/or cream.

The star of our dinner was so big that it was difficult to slice even with an electric knife! We weren’t surprised that Linda worked out the perfect slicing technique, showing up the guys who were struggling to cut some slices for the table.

K and L also made some roast beef with veggies, which were splendidly tender and spiced.

Linda kept this baby secret in the weeks leading up to the dinner and hinted that “if it works, it’s going to be awesome!”

But of course Linda being Linda, it worked and it was epically fantabulous!

A nine tiered “cake” made from pancakes lathered with (I think) Chantilly mascarpone vanilla cream between each layer, surrounded by home-made granola and fresh fruit, and topped with peanut butter ice cream and baked filo pastry.

What an awesome way to finish off dinner!

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So I’m taking a break from the USA post onslaught with a post about the best birthday meal ever at Ms.G’s (55 Victoria St, Potts Point). After following Dan Hong, Paul Donnelly and Patrick Friesen on Instagram for ages now I thought it was about bloody time I visited for a non event dinner like this one and this one and brought the whole clan along to celebrate me turning the big three-oh.

So anywhos. That pic above? Crispy Pork Hock ($35) and OH MY GAWWWWWWD THIS WAS SO FREAKING AMAZING THAT I’M WRITING IN CAPS AND ENDING IN MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION MARKS!!! Yeah this was a main and came out at the end but I have to write about it first because it was so damn awesome. Crispy skin, creamy layer of fat and meat so tender it was as if angels blessed it to comfort our souls during this cold winter. The pork hock came with apple kimchi, lettuce and herbs and was enough to feed 6 of us and have leftovers to take home. Wrapping the pork nubbins in the lettuce with a bit of the kimchi made me feel healthy at first, because you know vegetable matter and all that jazz, but after a while I gave up and just dug into the meat like a caveman cos it was so tasty that I didn’t want anything getting in the way between us…


So back to the starters, first out came the Snow Crab Betel Leaf ($6 each) which were bite sized bundles of wonder, fresh delicate crab meat with a zing from the yuzu in the light miso ranch dressing. Pretty generous with the filling too, so generous that about half fell into my safety bowl as I attempted to shove the whole leafy package into my mouth.


The Vietnamese Steak Tartare ($18) is an instant winner with Noods who half heartedly offers to share. Smooshing the egg yolk and mixing everything together I surprisingly loved the crunch of the fried shallots against the hand cut beef and scooped onto the prawn crackers. Prawn crackers over normal crackers = winning.


Ms G’s Grilled Corn on the Cob ($4ea) is insanely awesome thanks to the cloud of parmesan cheese and slather of lime mayo. It is bury-your-face-and-ignore-the-fact-you’re-in-a-public-space-get-messy type of food- simple but ridiculously tasty.


The Mini Bánh Mì‘s ($6ea) are almost too cute to eat. Almost. While the chicken katsu was delicious, the crisp pork belly was hands down the winner with freakishly soft pork, a schmear of rich pate, pickled veg and a pillowy soft bun. Totally want a full banh mi size!


We couldn’t resist the Malaysian Style Butter Prawns, ($29) which was fragrant with curry leaves, chilli and coriander. I wasn’t too fond of the amount of toasted shredded coconut coating the buttery prawns but that’s because I have issues with coconut that’s not in liquid form. Yeah ignore me.


Nearing explodey point we groan when the Crunchy Bangkok Fried Chicken ($25 whole) arrives for it is perfect with gloriously crispy skin and juicy tender meat. We do our best to finish but have to resort to tao pao.


Awww I do love candles but love free dessert even more haha thanks boys! Loved the presentation of the Dirty Passion ($12), a puddle of passionfruit curd hid beneath a rubble of dark chocolate ‘dirt’, chocolate wafers, shredded coconut and topped with a quenelle of refreshing coconut sorbet.


8 Treasure Textural Mind F@$k ($12). Ok, I’m totally going off my not-so-awesome memory but I do believe the 8 textures were: sago, honeycomb, blueberries, pandan ice cream, tapioca pearls, coconut cream and I THINK nata de coco- like the jelly rainbow strips in bubble tea? All up it was pretty crazy but we loved it.


And finally my favourite dessert, the Stoner’s Delight 2.0 ($12)- doughnut ice cream, peanut butter, raspberry jam, candied bacon, potato chips, mars bar slice and banana fritter. One word: PHENOMENAL. All the elements of awesome right there on that plate! Sweet, salty, crispy, smooth, hot, cold. Everything just worked! Of course the candied bacon stood out for me because well, it’s bacon :P

ChocolateSuze received complimentary desserts thanks to Ms G’s

お昼寝から目覚めたまる。
When Maru waked from a nap,

簡単なストレッチをした後
He did simple stretch.




すごい格好で左前足の肉球を念入りにお手入れ。
見ても何もついてませんけど、まるさん、夢で何か踏みましたか？
And then he cared for his pad of the left forepaw carefully.
I checked his pad, but there was nothing there.
Hey Maru, did you step on something in your dream?



「ちょっとね。」
Maru:[Yes, I did.]