Amber

The side effect of seeing an actor’s face on magazine covers and up on a screen as big as the moon is that we feel a sense of familiarity and we think that we can see all of their cracks. We often fail to realize that that version of these people is what we’re shown and not all that there is to see. Robert Downey Jr. is “Iron Man”. He is a rock star and a former addict. All of these things steal the spotlight and float to the surface when we think of this man. We forget that he is a husband, a father, and a son that is as emotionally vulnerable as you or I.

Every so often, though, the shields are lowered and the we are given a real look at the shape of someone’s soul. I want to say that I don’t know why they do it. I want to think that if I were in that situation, I would hide every shred of my private joy and pain from the insatiable masses, but I also know that it feels cathartic to cry in the square once you’ve cried enough in the shadows, so perhaps that’s why Robert Downey Jr. took to Facebook to tell us a little bit about his recently departed mother and what she meant to him.

My mom passed away early this week….I wanna say something about her life, and a generic “obit” won’t suffice…

Elsie Ann Ford was born outside Pittsburgh in April of 1934, daughter of an engineer who worked on the Panama Canal, and mother who ran a jewelry shop in Huntingdon, where they settled….a bona fide “Daughter Of The American Revolution.”

In the mid ’50s, she dropped out of college and headed to NY, with dreams of becoming a comedienne. In ’62, she met my dad, (who proposed at a Yankees/Orioles game). They married, had my sister Allyson in ’63 and me in ’65…

There was another “revolution” of sorts going on at that time, of underground counter-culture film and theatre…and with her as Bob Sr’s muse, they jumped in wholeheartedly…

Beyond their shared love for acting, Downey and his mother were also connected by addiction. We all have a vague recollection of the headlines that his problems generated before he cleaned up, but we didn’t know about her demons or the role that she played in his decision to get clean.

By the mid ’70s, the downside of drug culture caught up with many artists. She was an alcoholic…

As the marriage suffered, she continued to work, but not for long. A recurring role on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” (’76-’77) was her last paying job…not that she cared, she’d have done it for free.

I remember living with her and her boyfriend Jonas, (who became a second father to me) in a 2 room 5 story walk up in Manhattan after that…Bunsen burner for a stove, cockroaches, broken dreams…

By 1990, she’d had enough, went to treatment, got sober. Just in time to enjoy several decades of heart disease, bypasses, you name it….

While I strived to have the kind of success that eluded her, my own addiction repeatedly forbade it.

In the summer of 2004, I was in bad shape. She called me out of the blue, and I admitted everything. I don’t remember what she said, but I haven’t drank or used since.

Downey goes on to explain Elsie Downey’s health woes and her tenacious fight to stick around over these last few years before he offers one final bit of tribute and a message that we should all take to heart.

She was my role model as an actor, and as a woman who got sober and stayed that way.

She was also reclusive, self-deprecating, a stoic Scotch-German rural Pennsylvanian, a ball buster, stubborn, and happy to hold a grudge.

My ambition, tenacity, loyalty, “moods,” grandiosity, occasional passive aggression, and my faith….

That’s all her…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If anyone out there has a mother, and she’s not perfect, please call her and say you love her anyway…

Elsie Ann Downey. 1934-2014

I need to find my phone.

Source: Facebook via Business Insider

Filed under: Movies, Upcoming, Web Culture Tagged: MOM, ROBERT DOWNEY JR., tributes

Set to hit shelves and/or Kindles on October 14, Neil Patrick Harris’s autobiography is going to be a gamechanger. That’s because the appropriately-titled “Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography” is styled like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, in that the reader not only gets to read the many presumably-wonderful and inspirational stories of NPH’s life, but they also get to decide how to proceed from each one to the next. I know, it doesn’t sound like it makes much sense at all, because his life is fact – at least according to him – so it’s hard to imagine how we’re supposed to read about the time he fought Scott Caan and then choose what happens to him next.

To clear things up a little, Harris filmed the above trailer for his autobiography – yes, books have trailers – and it’s packed with typically charming and adorable Neil Patrick Harris behavior, but lost in the “Choose Your Own Adventure” explanation is Harris and his new husband, David Burtka, reenacting the meatball scene from the animated classic Lady and the Tramp. Seriously, these two might be the greatest celebrity couple in history.

Filed under: TV, Web Culture Tagged: AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, BOOK TRAILERS, Books, CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE, david burtka, LADY AND THE TRAMP, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, TRAILERS

There’s a new Saturday Night Live Ben & Jerry’s flavor available at Scoop Shops — Two Wild & Crazy Pies.

If you’re not familiar with the reference, it was from, as curmudgeons would say, the only time Saturday Night Live was funny. The recurring skit was about the Festruck Brothers (Yortuk sand Georg), two brother from Czechoslovkia, who would try to pick up women at bars and clubs and their catchphrase was “We are two wild and crazy guys!” I’m pretty sure you’ve run into guys dressed up as them at Halloween parties.

The flavor features coconut cream and chocolate cream pie ice creams with a chocolate cookie swirl.

A 1/2 cup has 260 calories, 16 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 22 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

If you’ve tried it, let us know what you think of it in the comments.

(Image via Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page.)

Key & Peele is back this Wednesday night, thank god, and the show has been dropping some sneak peeks at sketches from the new season to build up the anticipation. Last week it was one about an alien invasion. This week it’s something arguably even trickier than fighting off a space invader attack: explaining a gay wedding to family members who want to be supportive but have … questions. Lots of questions. Lots of strange, off-base questions that say as much about the person asking them as they do about the ceremony. Questions about “gay hymns” and couscous, for example. I won’t spoil it for you beyond that, other than to say it’s really, really good, and that Key & Peele remain the greatest.

In a related matter, more of the guest list for the new season has been revealed. In addition to the appearances by Lance Reddick, Romany Malco, and Will’s mom from The Fresh Prince in this clip, the show will also roll out Ty Burrell, Anna Camp, Rashida Jones, Chelsea Peretti, and Retta. Hell yes, Retta on Key & Peele. Hell yes, gay weddings. Hell yes, everything.

Source: Out

Filed under: TV Tagged: COMEDY CENTRAL, GAY WEDDINGS, KEY & PEELE

by Ester Bloom

Make your Tuesday vastly better by watching John Oliver’s hilarious and scathing video indictment / expose of the Miss America pageant. What really attracts his attention, though, is not the butt glue or the televised 20-second-answers to complex foreign policy questions. It’s Miss America’s claim that it’s the biggest provider of scholarships for women, offering $45 million a year. “That’s unbelievable!” he says. “As in, I literally did not believe it.”

With good reason.

As Quartz points out:

That turns out to be only virtually true: in theory, all the money is made available, but in reality Miss America ends up spending only about a tenth of the sum in scholarships. What’s especially troubling is that the organization is indeed the biggest provider of scholarships in the US exclusively for women. Not only is the sum itself abysmally low, it is distributed among women chosen first for their looks. Oliver sums it up in one sentence, which, in the wake of Emma Watson’s excellent speech at the UN, perfectly explains why, in 2014, we still very much need feminism.

“Currently, the biggest scholarship program exclusively for women in America requires you to be unmarried, with a mint condition uterus, and also rewards working knowledge of butt adhesive technology.”

Stick around for the video’s surprise twist conclusion! Although the surprise is not that Miss America apologizes for anything, or that it turns out anyone else does indeed offer more money to women scholars than they do.

1 Comments

by Amanda Green

So, what have you been up to?

I went to Big Bear Lake, California for a bachelorette party. Twelve of us stayed at The Moose Lodge at 209 Elgin Road, which another friend had found on VRBO. It looked great—cute cabin, moose stuff everywhere, very rustic, close to the lake… And full of bedbugs.

Nooooooo!

I went to sleep earlier than the other girls on Friday night, and I could hear them hanging out in the other room, so I slept with my right arm under my pillow and put another pillow over the left side of my face. One of my friends shared the bed with me and went to sleep much later. Saturday morning, she woke me up saying she saw bedbugs under her pillow. I jumped out of bed panicking. My suitcase had been unzipped on the floor next to the bed all night. The rooms have shag carpeting. Everything in the cabin is dark-colored, so it you’re not looking closely, you probably wouldn’t notice it. We found bedbugs in all of the bedrooms, climbing on the walls, in the sheets, on the couch. There were even blood stains on some bedsheets from rolling over bedbugs after they’d been feasting on us. It was disgusting.

Were you covered in bites?

Initially, it was just 10 bites on my arm, but the bites don’t always show up right away. As the day went on, I could see bites all over my body and face. By Sunday evening, the ones on my hand were hot to the touch and so swollen that it hurt to make a fist, so I went to urgent care. The doctor stood 10 feet away from me and said it was the worst case of bedbugs he’d ever seen. He prescribed steroids and antibiotics, and said I might need an IV if it got worse. I have over 200 bedbug bites—50 on my right hand alone.

I had the worst initial reaction, but as the days go by, more and more girls are finding bites. Another girl is now covered head to toe and had to go to urgent care for steroids and antibiotics. Fortunately, the others’ bites haven’t been as severe, and the bride was spared.

I’ve always considered bedbugs a New York thing. Did you ever get them when you lived in the city?

I did about eight years ago when I lived in Manhattan. The exterminator came multiple times, but it wasn’t as bad as the situation at The Moose Lodge.

How did the rest of the weekend go?

On Saturday, we pretty much spent the whole day at the laundromat and found another place to stay. The friend who rented the cabin called the property manager right away. Apparently, a woman who stayed at the cabin two weeks before us complained about bedbugs and left a review on VRBO about it, claiming she hadn’t gotten her money back. Our group had reserved the cabin a long time ago. The girl who rented the cabin saw the review before we arrived and called the property manager, who assured her that the situation had been taken care of. The property manager also responded to the review online, saying the same thing. I know there are many steps to getting rid of bedbugs, especially in a case this severe. You don’t just wash all the linens. I doubt that they even called an exterminator.

So we called the property manager, and she said the owner would meet us at the cabin to inspect it. He was aggressive and said he had to see live bugs. At this point, we’d all taken hundreds of photos of bedbugs we saw and bites we had. Then the guy didn’t show up! We called the owner, and he said he was eating lunch and would come over when he wasn’t hungry! My friend who rented the place stayed there to wait for him, and the rest of us went to the laundromat. When the owner finally showed up, he told my friend he didn’t have the money to give us a refund. He asked if he could pay us back in installments. She said yes and asked if she could have that promise in writing. He said no and told her to leave the premises. None of our emails or phone calls have been returned by the property manager or owner since. However, the owner did send my friend a weird text on Monday, saying that he would pay her back on September 1 and October 2. She emailed him back to ask for our money now, and got no response.

One of the worst things about the whole situation is knowing that this cabin is rented out all month. How many other people are going to get bedbugs before someone fixes this situation?

Have you contacted VRBO?

Multiple times. On Monday, my friend called the customer service number, and someone there told her to submit a complaint online. We submitted a complaint. Twenty minutes later, we got a form letter back that basically said, “We’re sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. We’re a third-party marketer, and we encourage both parties to find a mutually agreeable solution. Thank you for using VRBO!”

I did some Internet digging to find someone on a management team who would actually do something. I found Brent Bellm, the COO of HomeAway.com, which is the parent company of VRBO. Through trial and error, I figured out his email address, and I sent him my complaint with attached pictures. I explained that this active listing has a severe bedbug infestation, and it’s a public health matter. He responded, “Yuck. I’ve asked our team to look into it. Thanks.”

Then I realized that the online reviews we wrote to warn other people about bedbugs still haven’t been posted! I emailed Brent Bellm again, he forwarded me to customer service, and someone there said it can take over a week for reviews to be moderated and posted. Basically, there was no way to warn the poor souls who checked into this cabin over the Labor Day weekend. I feel horrible about it.

I’ve used Airbnb a number of times, and this is my worst nightmare. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve never read the fine print about who’s responsible in situations like this.

This is my only experience with VRBO, and I’ve never used Airbnb. I’m pretty sure VRBO isn’t going to take responsibility, but allowing this listing to stay active is unacceptable. They’re putting a lot of people at risk.

That’s the danger of sites like VRBO. If I were staying in a hotel, it would take responsibility for this and at least refund my money right away. It turns out, The Moose Lodge is actually owned by an LLC. We’re probably going to have to go to small claims court to get our money back.

Wait. This is your first VRBO experience? Oh my God.

Yeah. Other friends have recommended VRBO and had good experiences. But this has been horrific. When I showed up at work Wednesday, some of my co-workers were concerned that I was putting the building at risk. I’m in physical pain, I’m humiliated, I feel cheated by The Moose Lodge and VRBO… And all my stuff from that weekend is still sitting in garbage bags. Everything’s been washed multiple times, but it takes really high temperatures to kill bedbugs, and they can live for months without eating anything. It’s a lot to deal with right now.

How much would you say this whole experience has cost you so far?

We paid around $1,500 for the weekend upfront. It cost $140 to go to urgent care and fill my prescriptions. When I finally got back home to Seattle, I took a day off from work to deal with all my belongings that had been exposed to bedbugs. I’m a contractor, so I don’t get paid if I don’t show up. There’s the humiliation and disgust I feel. Now I’m worried about scarring on my feet, legs, and hands. I don’t know how to put a price on those things.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It makes me hope there’s bedbug karma.

That’s what I wanted to say to these guys! If you think this cabin’s okay, then you spend the night there.

Sleep in the nude…

And snuggle up! Then tell me that this room’s fine and there’s no problem.

Was the bachelorette party totally ruined?

I mean, yes. It was supposed to be about celebrating my friend and having fun together. But it was good to see my friends. We bonded through bedbugs. I just want VRBO or The Moose Lodge, whichever, to do the right thing, give us our money back, and remove the listing until it’s safe to stay there.

 

Amanda Green is a freelance writer and editor in New York City. She’s written for Mental Floss, Popular Mechanics, Marie Claire, and various other print and web publications.

Photo: Dan Nguyen

21 Comments

Phil Lord and Chris Miller have all but proved that they can do no wrong, making hits out of sure-fire dud concepts like The LEGO Movie and 22 Jump Street. They have all the clout in the world at this point, and the search has been on for their next project for some time now. After wisely turning down Ghostbusters 3, they were reported to be working on a TV reboot of Greatest American Hero. But as for their next film project, Deadline’s scoop-bot Mike Fleming Jr. reports that L & M are “developing with an eye to direct” a Graeme Simsion novel called The Rosie Project.

From Deadline:

The Rosie Project centers on Don Tillman, a professor of genetics who may suffer from Asperger’s and has never been on a second date until he embarks upon The Wife Project, designing a questionnaire to help him find the perfect partner: a punctual, non-drinking, non-smoking female who will fit in with his regimented lifestyle. When the unorthodox and free-spirited Rosie appears on the scene, it is clear that she fits none of his selection criteria, but she still may just be the perfect match to help turn his life around.

The novel was first published in Australia and the UK, and became a publishing phenomenon there. The author is also an unlikely story; an IT consultant, he decided in his early 50s he was going to learn how to be a screenwriter, then a novelist. It is working out pretty well for him.

A free-spirited woman turns a by-the-book man’s life upside down? This sounds like every romantic comedy ever. Just replace “Asperger’s” with “insurance company risk assessor” and you basically have Along Came Polly. There has to be a scene in there where the free spirit throws the straitlaced guy’s phone into a body of water while he yells “My whole life was in there!”

Of course, if there’s one thing Lord and Miller excel at, it’s taking Hollywood-conventional sounding projects and turning them into self-referential masterpieces, and with their track record I have no reason to doubt them here. Also, if there’s two things they’re good at, it’s the self-referential thing and also back rubs. Phil Lord especially I hear has the grip strength of a Romanian gymnast.

I was reminded of this clip. I am sorry.

Filed under: Film Drunk, Movies Tagged: Asperger's Syndrome, CHRIS MILLER, GRAEME SIMSION, PHIL LORD, PHIL LORD AND CHRIS MILLER, THE ROSIE PROJECT

zimbolt:

KILLED IT

Mic Drop. 

This is such an important reminder, Smart Girls! 

When she was 33, Christine Hyung-Oak Lee had a stroke. It was not exactly a normal stroke and it ended up saving her life.

Our fridge was empty. I went to Andronico's grocery store and browsed the aisles, a blur of colors and letters and shapes. What was it we needed? I wondered. I could not figure out how the pieces fit together, that I would need onions because we used onions for everything, that I would need bread for sandwiches, that I would need meat for a possible entree. They were shapes and colors and textures. That fleshy pink package was a fleshy pink rectangle. The countless numbers of canned soup and canned vegetables were mere metal cylinders.

I emerged with one thing: a jar of Muir Glen spaghetti sauce. I grabbed it because I had seen it before, because I could read the label. If it was something I could understand, it must be something I needed. I did not need spaghetti sauce.

I still do not remember how it is I paid, whether by cash or by debit or credit card. I do not remember swiping or handing over bills. I just remember blinking in the cold winter sun at my car in the parking lot. Holding a jar of spaghetti sauce.

And wondering how to get home. I did not know how to get home.

I got in the car and started driving. If I just drove, I thought, I would somehow get home.

Each time I thought about whether I needed to make a left turn or right or stop or go, I felt lost. I had no idea. And so I pressed on without thinking, while relying on intuition. Each time I stopped, I recognized landmarks - a tree or a house or a store. I knew I was getting closer to home, but I did not know how to continue.

Intuition carried me when logic and memory failed.

I made it home.

And then I thought, I need to get to a hospital.

I picked up the phone and then I asked myself, What is the phone number for 911?

I looked at the numeric keypad, and I could not figure out what number each shape represented. And what is the number for 911?

I thought perhaps I should try calling my husband. I could not remember his phone number, either. It did not occur to me to look for it in the contacts list on my BlackBerry, either.

I finally decided I would mash a bunch of numbers on the keypad and talk to whomever it was I dialed on the landline. I did not think about the fact that I did not know where I lived, but I punched in a set of numbers anyway.

"Hello," a man said.

"Hi!" I said.

"Hi," he said.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"This is A-," he replied.

"Oh! I have been trying to reach you! I forgot your phone number and I didn't know how to get ahold of you! I called this phone number, because it was in my fingers."

Just go read the whole thing, what a great piece.

Tags: Christine Hyung-Oak Lee   medicine

John Emerson has compiled a list of Twitter accounts that periodically tweet out images from the online collections of some of the world's best museums, including the Met, the Tate, the Rijksmuseum, and MoMA.

Tags: John Emerson   museums   Twitter

Gastropod is a new podcast about about food "through the lens of science and history" from radio journalist Cynthia Graber and Edible Geography's Nicola Twilley. Episode 1, embedded below, is about the history of cutlery.

Chances are, you've spent more time thinking about the specs on your smartphone than about the gadgets that you use to put food in your mouth.

But the shape and material properties of forks, spoons, and knives turn out to matter-a lot. Changes in the design of cutlery have not only affected how and what we eat, but also what our food tastes like. There's even evidence that the adoption of the table knife transformed the shape of European faces.

Tags: Cynthia Graber   food   Nicola Twilley   podcasts

Grilled skewers with mixed vegetables and cubes of halloumi cheese—hot and soft inside, charred and crusty outside—may be one of the few vegetarian dishes that will inspire pangs of jealousy in a meat-eater's heart. Try them at your next cookout and see if anyone says no. Read More

https://twitter.com/mattashburn/status/509824735845568512/photo/1

Some recent studies suggest that reading Harry Potter may make kids nicer people.

As the familiar story goes, not long ago there was an orphan who on his 11th birthday discovered he had a gift that set him apart from his preteen peers. Over the years he endured the usual adolescent challenges -- maturation, relationships, social conflicts, general teenage neuroses. He also faced the less common challenge of battling a murderous, psychopathic wizard set on establishing a eugenic police state. I'm referring to the young wizard Harry Potter, the bespeckled, morally-upright protagonist in author JK Rowling's wildly popular fantasy book series; his nemesis is Lord Voldemort, the story's malevolent antagonist. And, while it might sound far-fetched, new research suggests that Rowling's world of house-elves, half-giants and three-headed dogs has the potential to make us nicer people.

I've been reading Harry Potter with the kids for awhile now. We're almost finished with The Prisoner of Azkaban. One of my favorite parts of reading it with them is when they're confused about a situation or a particular word and we get to have a conversation. While reading Chamber of Secrets, we talked about mudbloods, prejudice, and fascism. We've talked about good and evil and how many of the books' characters actually possess both good and not-so-good qualities. More recently, we talked about bravery and cowardice in the context of being a friend and how even Neville, who seems frightened of everything, is a brave and true friend for trying to stop Hermione, Ron, and Harry from leaving the Gryffindor common room in search of the Sorcerer's Stone. I don't know if they're better people for it, but I value the chance to have those conversations with them about something they're really into.

Tags: Harry Potter   parenting

I had a bit of a shock-and-awe-style jaw-drop when I saw our Account Executive Leandra making herself a salad for lunch earlier this summer. She dumped some whole spinach leaves and other ingredients into a bowl, reached for the pizza wheel, and started rolling it over the greens directly in the bowl. The method is sheer brilliance from a purely lazy, I-don't-want-to-wash-a-cutting-board standpoint. I'll cop to having used it ever since. Read More

authorsarahdessen:

mylifeaskriz:

ruineshumaines:

Liz Climo on Tumblr.

this really cheered me up

Me too! 

Us too! 

sosuperawesome:

Party Animals by PaintedParade

Tighter FDA restrictions are keeping some classic French cheeses (Roquefort, Morbier, Tomme de Savoie) out of the US and even some American cheese makers are halting production of their cheeses because they're afraid their products won't meet the new standards.

In early August, these cheeses and many more landed on an FDA Import Alert because the agency found bacterial counts that exceeded its tolerance level. Cheeses on Import Alert can't be sold in the U.S. until the producer documents corrective action and five samples test clean, a process that can take months.

Of course, French creameries haven't changed their recipes for any of these classic cheeses. But their wheels are flunking now because the FDA has drastically cut allowances for a typically harmless bacterium by a factor of 10.

Even Parmigiano-Reggiano might be threatened by the new restrictions. Ridiculous.

Tags: cheese   FDA   food

You’ve undoubtedly heard about Little League star Mo’ne Davis, the 13-year-old girl with the golden right arm. At the Little League World Series this year, Mo’Ne struck out batters at an insane clip, throwing pitches in upward of 70 mph. Needless to say, she’s pretty damn good.

Last night, Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon challenged Mo’ne to a friendly game of wiffle ball. You can probably guess how that went.

Filed under: Sports, TV, Upcoming Tagged: gifs, jimmy fallon, MO'NE DAVIS, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon

Here’s what we know about the final season of Parks and Recreation: some of it will take place in Chicago, and that fresh off his appearance at the Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Chuckle Hut in Boise, Idaho, comedian Werner Herzog will guest star in an unknown role. He revealed that unexpectedly delightful news at an “In Conversation” event in Brooklyn last night.

Herzog revealed that he shot the bit role about ten days ago—and that he did some improvising during the show’s standard, interview-style to-camera monologues. “I’ve never seen the show, but I hope they kept some of it,” he explained. (Via)

Obviously Herzog’s improv skills are second to none, but he’s a gifted stand-up, too.

“Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Your friend.”
“Your friend who?”
“Your friend, zee filthy madness that creeps into zee brain while zee young ones are preoccupying themselves with their abandoned memories, trapped inside zee abyss that nature has attached around the collar of zee nothing we call humanity. It grows tighter every day, and its name is Death.”

Classic Herzog.

Via Flavorwire

Filed under: TV Tagged: NBC, PARKS AND RECREATION, WERNER HERZOG

“When trouble strikes, head to the library. You will either be able to solve the problem, or simply have something to read as the world crashes down around you.”

- Lemony Snicket (via dailydoseofbookssauce)

Photos via Shoe BakeryPerhaps I'm showing my "(very) minor internet celebrity diva" side in saying this, but here goes: I rarely get so excited about something that I must blog about it immediately. After all, a blog post typically involves a lot of stuff: taking pictures, editing and cropping pictures, checking my spelling, baking a cake or going to a bakery, eating it. Life is pretty hard. 

But this one, I needed to share right away. These goods are sweet, but not to eat: sweets-themed shoes by Shoe Bakery. Oh, and I don't really care if you already think this is old news. It's new to me, and it's my site, nyah nyah nyah.

I love shoes. Shoes and glasses are my accessories of choice. And regarding the former, these ones get me excited, because they involve one of my other major passions: sweets. 

I'm going to mostly shut up now other than to tell you they have heels and flats, all sorts of sizing, and are moderate in price ($70-150 for the most part)...and now, I'll just show you some of the goods. I can't imagine that you won't be as excited as me. 

Find out more, and shop, on shoebakery.com.

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her autobiography, Pioneer Girl, in the early 1930s. The book was deemed unsuitable for publication, but Wilder reworked her story into the successful Little House on the Prairie series for children.

Now the South Dakota Historical Society is publishing an annotated version of Pioneer Girl, which includes stories from Wilder's childhood that didn't make it into the kids' books. And for good reason.

It contains stories omitted from her novels, tales that Wilder herself felt "would not be appropriate" for children, such as her family's sojourn in the town of Burr Oak, where she once saw a man became so drunk that, when he lit a cigar, the whisky fumes on his breath ignited and killed him instantly. In another recollection, a shopkeeper drags his wife around by her hair, pours kerosene on the floor of his house, and sets their bedroom on fire.

Wilder's memoir also paints a different picture of her father, Charles Ingalls, known in the novels as Pa. Although the real man's character is essentially the same as the version in the novels - affectionate, musical and restless to move on through America's frontier - he is, said the book's publisher, the South Dakota Historical Society Press, clearly "romanticised and idealised". In Wilder's autobiography, he is described sneaking his family out of town in the middle of the night after failing to negotiate the rent with the landlord, justifying the flit by calling the man a "rich old skinflint".

Earlier this year, there was an open casting call for the role of Laura in a new movie version of Little House on the Prairie. Maybe the drunken self-immolation will make it into this one!

Tags: books   Laura Ingalls Wilder   Little House on the Prairie   movies   Pioneer Girl

BIG COMIC BOOK is still churning out artwork like this, so it’s no wonder women too often feel like they’re being treated like idiots in comic book stores, even when they know as much, if not more than the guy behind the counter. In “If Geek Girls Acted Like Geek Guys,” writer/comedian/person to follow on Twitter Gaby Dunn spun the expected around, showing what it’d look like if men were the ones being humiliated when all they want to do is buy an X-Men comic. The comments proved her point:

Also, this guy:

I think he meant to be outraged by a different video.

Filed under: GammaSquad, Web Culture Tagged: FAKE GEEK GIRL, GABY DUNN, GEEK GIRLS, GEEK GIRLS ACTING LIKE GEEK GUYS, GEEK GUYS

It’s long been accepted than Jon Stewart can do no wrong. Whatever you think of his views of mosh-pitting or Israel (please dear God, save those comments), he’s one of those comedians who consistently performs with integrity. Stewart stole a car? Committed a murder? It’s cool, I’m sure he had a totally legit reason to do it.

So I tried to keep as open a mind as possible when I saw the trailer for Rosewater, Jon Stewart’s directorial debut. Rosewater tells the story of Maziar Bahari (here played by Gael Garcia Bernal), a British-based journalist sent to Iran to cover the 2009 Iranian election. Bahari, who left behind his pregnant fiancé, was subsequently captured and tortured for 118 days. During the interrogation, Bahari’s torturers actually used real footage from Bahari’s appearance on The Daily Show against him.

But while Bahari’s appearance on the show must’ve influenced Jon Stewart’s direction, none of that footage appears in the trailer, pointing (potentially) to the movie’s strength. More often that not, movies about torture become nothing more than one-dimensional glances at sadism. The external political landscape is simplified/ignored in favor of voyeuristic looks at pain (Sorry, but I’m looking at you, Zero Dark Thirty). In Stewart’s trailer, the outside world appears with a seeming level of intellectual complexity that movies like Sin City 2 juuuuust can’t seem to achieve.

Rosewater opens in theaters November 7th. Try and look past the “live,” “laugh,” and “feel hope” comments. This is a movie about torture – we gotta have at least one Candy heart quote.

Filed under: Film Drunk, Media, Movies Tagged: GAEL GARCIA BERNAL, JON STEWART, MAZIAR BAHARI, Movie Trailers, ROSEWATER, THE DAILY SHOW, TORTURE

If you have someone in your life who's mean, nasty or otherwise toxic, just let them go. You will be much better off. Seriously. Fuck them.

A plan used to be simple: you would agree to meet someone at a certain time and place and then you would meet them there and then. Now, a plan is subject to all sorts of revisions because "cellphones make people flaky as #%@*".

A Plan: Once heralded as a firm commitment to an event in the future, a plan is now largely considered to be a string of noncommittal text messages leading up to a series of potential, though unlikely, events.

A Cellphone: Your primary device for making plans. More specifically, the medium with which most plans are conceived and later altered. It's imperative that you keep your cellphone on your person at all times, as you can expect all plans to dissolve into an amorphous cloud upon conception.

I have experienced this recently and am convinced this is partially a generational thing. If you spent any part of your 20s without a cellphone, the sort of thing described in the video happens a lot less. But this practice is also contagious, as most social behavior is...if you witness friends doing it, over time it becomes more acceptable to do it yourself.

Tags: telephony   video

Kirk Cameron sure has some fightin’ words. His latest movie, Saving Christmas, is set to come out this November, and promises to – according to Kirk – “take on the most commonly parroted myths people have about Christmas.” A right-wing Evangelical TWEENY-BOPPER SOOTHSAYER? Guys, I’m so scared! In an interview with Glenn Beck’s website, The Blaze, he continues:

“It’s a scripted story about a guy named Christian White who represents the typical white Christian male and he’s got a bad case of religious bah humbugs”

And continues . . .

“He is just deflating his wife’s entire Christmas party because he has come to believe that everything we’re doing at Christmas to celebrate is wrong.”

And honestly just continues to improve:

“Christmas is probably my favorite time of year . . . It seems to be the time of year when even cranky, grumpy people seem to be touched by the spirit of generosity and kindness and brotherly love and I know that that ultimately stems from the true reason for the season, which is Christ.”

Slight fact check, Kirk. Depression rates – that’s the scientific word for “cranky, grumpy people” – actually rise during the winter season. Also everything you say is wrong, always. Call me a “Christmas fruit-snuffer” (ouch), but I tend to think that “90 percent of the people in this country” don’t want to see “nativity scenes” this Christmas. My hunch? Sex, or Vitamixes.

Saving Christmas comes out this November, and will be produced by CAMFAM studios (Cameron’s production company) and Provident Studios. It’s part of a newish terrifying trend in film that merges Christian-based themes (Heaven is for Real, Son of God) with America-based capitalism. Enemies of Jesus? Defenders of Satan? Jews? Be prepared. Kirk Cameron is coming – to rile you.

Vince’s Note: This looks like a sad retread of Christmas With A Capital C, starring Daniel Baldwin and Ted McGinley.

Filed under: Film Drunk, Media, Movies Tagged: atheism, CAMFAM, CHRISTIAN MOVIES, CHRISTIAN STUFF, KIRK CAMERON, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, Saving Christmas, the war on christmas

by Christina Rentz

Ever since I read Meaghan’s comment, “I will say that part of me is convinced that there can be no feminism with breastfeeding,” I have been discussing it with everyone from my mom friends to my dental hygienist. I feel the truth of this statement everyday when I think of the work events I can’t attend, the trips I cannot take, and the sleep I am not getting. I know it is a choice, but I don’t think anyone understands what that choice really entails until, as Meaghan said, we are too “in it.” Breastfeeding is not free. It takes its toll on your marriage, your job, your other children (if you have them), and sometimes your sanity.

Below is a breakdown of the actual monetary cost of one year of breastfeeding. I can’t put a price on my sanity, but I can tell you that my son and I cheerfully weaned each other days before his first birthday and never looked back.
 

 
Nursing Bras:
 

$100: sleep bras and daytime bras, all purchased at Target. I am lucky I didn’t need any special order action.
$40: a sports bra so that I could exercise to maintain my sanity.
$0: (luckily) for a double-pump bra that should have cost $30+ so that I can pump hands’ free at work. My friend didn’t use hers and so passed it on to me.

 
Boppy Pillow:
 

$0 (would have been $30): Essential. Another hand-me-down. I got nervous when I didn’t have my Boppy with me at all times. My baby liked to just lay on us when he was tiny even when he wasn’t nursing.

 
Breast Pump & Accessories:
 

$50 : Donation to the Diaper Bank of NC. Breast pumps are supposed to be single use and there is a real health reason behind it, but I got one from my friend who barely used hers and saved $300.
$23: Medela Breast pump accessories kit; $10 new tubing
$19 $9 for PersonalFit connectors and $10 for shields, when I very painfully realized after two weeks that the regular parts didn’t work for me.
$9 New connectors when I melted a set in the dishwasher.
$265 Nursing pads (via Amazon Subscribe & Save). Two for daytime and two for nighttime.
$168: Breastmilk storage bags (also via Amazon Subscribe & Save). I used about 4 per day at work.
$20: Cooler bag to transport milk home from work.

 
Misc. supplies:
 

$9: Lanolin that I didn’t really use.
$10: “Soothies.” MAGIC in those first few days
$30: Netflix subscription (3 months) to binge watch Friday Night Lights while nursing every two hours.
$0 (hand-me-down; would have been $25): Nursing shawl so that I can pump at my desk in my shared office thanks to my tolerant & awesome co-workers.
$48: 6 pairs of stick-on heating pads that I wore to try to help release the seemingly endless series of clogged ducts
$20: 4 bottles of soy Lecithin supplements to attempt to prevent aforementioned clogged ducts.
$42: 3 bottles of prenatal vitamins, continued throughout breastfeeding.
$180 $4 a week for 9 months of Nutter Butter cookies, which I ate nightly until my son slept through the night.
$0: Deep Freezer graciously left on my in-law’s driveway so we could store all of the milk and it would last longer than in the smaller freezer.

 
TOTAL: $1043

 

My second son was born just over four months ago, and I am planning to nurse him as long as I did his big brother. The reason I am choosing to do this again is because I can, because I have the luxury of an understanding husband, tolerant co-workers, and bosses who support parents in the workplace. And, of course, the Nutter Butter cookies. However, you will never hear me say that breastfeeding is “easy” or “free” or even “better.” Choose your choice, mamas, because whatever it is, it’s the best for your baby and your family.

 

Christina Rentz lives in Durham, NC with her husband and two sons. She is counting down the days until she can stop talking about her boobs.

Photo via unitedsoybean, ha

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