Megan West(erby)

factsarenothing: turnabout: Remember how Lily Allen had a song...

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:50:17 -0700

turnabout:

Remember how Lily Allen had a song on her first album about how much weed her brother smokes? Yeah, that’s Alfie Allen and every time I see him on Game of Thrones, this is all I can think about.

Oh my gosh, this explains so much.

This changes everything.

"What you want now isn’t necessarily what you’re going to want in five years, 10 years or, heck, next..."

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:47:20 -0700

“What you want now isn’t necessarily what you’re going to want in five years, 10 years or, heck, next week. That doesn’t make you lost, it makes you normal.”

- The Best Celebrity Commencement Speech Wisdom And Why You Should Heed It - Forbes by J. Maureen Henderson

Just as I thought I was burnt out on commencement speech advice for the year.

"gigantic wooden arts & crafts spaceship"

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:21:00 -0700

If Moby won’t even do some cursory research into the history of the Gamble House before blathering on about the place can we stop talking about him like he’s the second coming of architecture blogging simply because he’s OMG MOBY USING TUMBLR!?!?

"All Facebook profiles in theory are born equal; they allow the same exact repertoire of actions to..."

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:02:35 -0700

“All Facebook profiles in theory are born equal; they allow the same exact repertoire of actions to shape and improve them. It seems like an opportunity and a medium in which to develop the self, but it is also a way to contain and control those efforts, making sure they are producing value within capitalism (rather than liberation from it). Facebook makes us aware of the possibility of identity work in such a way as to make that work ultimately generic. That seems highly paradoxical: The more we use social media to try to individuate, the more we format ourselves to be machine processable, the more we reduce our ineffability to code.”

- Facebook and living labor – The New Inquiry

Well, as long as we acknowledge this, right?

"While Jane’s fashion-centric Lookbook account and Lydia’s animated gif-heavy Tumblr do little to add..."

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:38:56 -0700

“While Jane’s fashion-centric Lookbook account and Lydia’s animated gif-heavy Tumblr do little to add to the plot, twitter accounts for Bing Lee, his sister Caroline, and William Darcy provide a parallel view of events that does an admirable job of complementing the vlog entries. While these elements are by no means necessary to the story, many of the show’s most amusing moments are either told (or remixed) over these side-channels.”

- The Lizzie Bennet Diaries Brings Jane Austen to YouTube | Wired Magazine | Wired.com

This is what I’m talking about!

quelalexandradit: fuckyeahblackwidow: Natasha: Hold! Before...

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:27:51 -0700

quelalexandradit:

fuckyeahblackwidow:

Natasha: Hold! Before you conquer the universe, evil one, you must first deal with… the Black Widow!
Clint: ‘Tasha! You set your Widow’s Bite on lethal charge!
Natasha: Yes, Hawkeye— and now I am aiming it directly at Ixar— unless he surrenders.
Ixar: You are bluffing— just as he was!
Natasha: Think what you wish, Ixar, but remember, I am bound by no Avengers’ oath.
Clint: Wait, Natasha! No matter what he is… or what he’s done… you can’t kill him!
Natasha: I have no choice, my darling. If we are all to die, I shall like to make certain that Ixar does not live to boast of his victory! But my patience grows short. Surrender at once— or your mad quest for power shall end… in death.
Ixar: I… don’t believe you! I…
Natasha: Look into my eyes, Ixar. Look deep into the eyes of the Black Widow. Are these the eyes of one who deals in empty words and idle threats? So, make your decision… at once!

So I’ve been reading around, that GRRM thing, mentions like this of Natasha’s “groan inducing” history (“Who really wants to see another super lady spy who uses her vagina like Captain America uses his fist? Not I!”) and wondering anyone actually knows what Black Widow was like in the Silver Age. This is what she was like.

Ixar was an evil alien overlord who captured the Avengers one by one and stuck them in plastic tubes. He left Clint and Natasha for last because they were the weakest and surely posed no threat to his evil overlordly schemes. Natasha is outgunned, the team is on the line, the world is on the line, and the only way she can win is bending the rules a bit. This sets her up as willing to kill, which was a big deal in 1960s time. The Avengers then had a strict no-kill clause, and so did superhero comics on the whole. And Ixar knows they have a strict no-kill clause, and so he’s not willing to believe Hawkeye, who just tried pulling the same trick. But Natasha isn’t an Official Avenger™ yet, so she seizes that ambiguity and leverages it.

It’s a brilliant scene because she doesn’t actually kill him, she doesn’t break the Avengers rules, she doesn’t have to. It might just be a bluff. We don’t know, the story doesn’t answer for us— Natasha gets to circumvent the Comics Code without actually circumventing it. She is a mystery and her hair is fabulous. Ixar returns to space in his sinister flying saucer, the world is saved, and not because Natasha could outfight his schemes, but because she could outthink them.

You know, probably with her vagina.

From Avengers #37, by Roy Thomas and Don Heck.

“She is a mystery and her hair is fabulous.”

I’ve seen a number of GRRM rebuttals (and that entire opinion/situation is an unwelcome shitshow), but this is by far the most pointedly AWESOME.

"His head bartender, “Short-Change Charley” Steele, who was once arrested for murder, kept a supply..."

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:06:28 -0700

“His head bartender, “Short-Change Charley” Steele, who was once arrested for murder, kept a supply of chloral hydrate ready to drug unsuspecting patrons. To make the liquor go farther it was diluted with water, then camphor was added to strengthen the taste. McGurk’s was the first establishment to have an armed “bouncer.” His was “Eat-‘em Up” Jack McManus. McManus was repeatedly arrested for assault, however since his victims were always stricken with memory loss when it was time to identify him, he was never held.”

- Daytonian in Manhattan: McGurk’s Suicide Hall — 295 The Bowery (via Findings.com)

I can’t not keep reading.

"Substantively, Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr.’s ruling in Maker’s Mark Distillery v. Diageo North America..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:10:06 -0700

“Substantively, Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr.’s ruling in Maker’s Mark Distillery v. Diageo North America upholds a lower court decision that the makers of Jose Cuervo cannot use dripping red wax on their tequila bottles, because it violates the classic trademark “dress element” on Maker’s Mark bottles. Take that, Mexican liquor that makes people do crazy s**t! Don’t even try to mess with our American whiskey!”

- Wow, This Sixth Circuit Judge Knows A Lot About Bourbon « Above the Law: A Legal Web Site – News, Commentary, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law School, Law Suits, Judges and Courts

Sometimes legal opinions are hilarious.

(via turnabout)

Why does it not surprise me that judges know a lot about bourbon?

Guides, not gatekeepers: general comic book reading tips

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:12:54 -0700

And this is why I love Alexandra.

quelalexandradit:

Putting together a rec list made me realize how subjective an experience that can be. Like, I love teenaged superheroes, but maybe you don’t! In which case, having someone tell you for the millionth time to read Runaways is really not too helpful. (You should still read it, though).

Instead, I thought it might be more useful to put together a list of tips and tricks for reading superhero comics in general, and Avengers stuff in particular.

✏ Read the recap page. All the books I can think of have an intro page that catches you up on any story that you have to know to understand the plot. They also tend to have a character or team recap that is more general, so you can get an idea about the overarching themes going on within each book. Read the recap pages! They’re your friend.

Here is the top of a recap page from a recent Avengers Academy issue. The general team stuff is at the top, character breakdowns along the sides, and specific arc plot info in the middle. Everything you need to jump in at any point!

✏ Wikipedia is your best friend. If you don’t understand a reference, I guarantee Wikipedia has a page that can explain it to you!

✏ But don’t get too bogged down in research. I know the millions of years of comics continuity can feel really daunting, but it doesn’t have to! If you can get into a groove balancing Wikipedia research with just going with the flow, you can pick up a lot of references and stay afloat while reading, so to speak. It’s not necessary, or even really possible, to understand every single reference and continuity point ever. You just need enough to understand the story you have in your hands.

The bonus to this approach is that you will eventually amass a large amount of continuity knowledge, and pretty soon you will be an expert!

✏ You don’t have to start at the beginning, but start at a beginning. I frequently pick up new series by going back and starting from issue 1—a tactic that works really well with the Avengers stuff, because the books have rebooted a few times in the past decade. Again, check Wikipedia for the breakdowns and to see where crossovers fall within the ongoing books’ runs. For instance, the Dark Reign crossover ended with a line-wide theme called the Heroic Age, at which point the whole Avengers line rebooted. So Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, and Avengers Academy all began just over 2 years ago, which is not a lot of issues to catch up on.

✏ Understand issue numbering. Some titles get renumbered frequently, while others never do. This can make things really confusing. When titles renumber, they are differentiated by volume as well as by publication year. So New Avengers volume 1 started in 2005: an issue from its run might be called NA vol. 1 #1 OR NA #1 (2005). As always, Wikipedia can help.

Wikipedia usually has this kind of helpful sidebar that breaks down the volumes and their years, for easy reference.

✏ Pick a character and go from there. If you have one specific character you’re interested in, this can be a good way to pick a starting point. Do you love Hawkeye? Try tracking down a variety of things he’s appeared in. This character guide is a great place to find lists of character appearances. Wikipedia is a huge help here as well. Want to know more about Maria Hill? Wikipedia tells me she showed up for the first time in New Avengers vol. 1 #4, so start there and continue on.

✏ Or pick a writer or artist. Alternately, you can always try out one writer or artist you like or think you will like. I love Warren Ellis, so I tried and loved his run on Secret Avengers. I also loved Ed Brubaker’s, but I did not love Rick Remender’s, so I stopped reading when he came onboard. Or you might try Spider-Woman because of Alex Maleev’s art. Pretty soon, you’ll get a feel for who you like and who you don’t, which makes it that much easier to discern what to read and what to avoid.

…

I guess that’s all for now! Feel free to drop me an ask for further suggestions or straight-up recs.

"The poster case for government persecution of the down-and-out would have to be Edwina Nowlin, a..."

Sun, 20 May 2012 15:12:13 -0700

“The poster case for government persecution of the down-and-out would have to be Edwina Nowlin, a homeless Michigan woman who was jailed in 2009 for failing to pay $104 a month to cover the room-and-board charges for her 16-year-old son’s incarceration. When she received a back paycheck, she thought it would allow her to pay for her son’s jail stay. Instead, it was confiscated and applied to the cost of her own incarceration.”

- How Corporations and Local Governments Use the Poor As Piggy Banks | Mother Jones

Isn’t that called debtors prison?

TFTA: Texts From the Avengers (pt. 7) Favorite of these yet.

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:54:23 -0700

TFTA: Texts From the Avengers (pt. 7)

Favorite of these yet.

"Online is a revolution. The Internet is a revolution. And we should be revolutionary in the content..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:13:24 -0700

““Online is a revolution. The Internet is a revolution. And we should be revolutionary in the content that we put on it, rather than derivative. And rather than mimic the shit of TV and make it worse, let’s say ‘fuck it.’ The Internet isn’t TV, it’s different, it’s better. Let’s make content that young people actually give a shit about.””

- VICE Founder Shane Smith: Online TV Could be Revolutionary, But It’s Just as Crappy as Regular TV | Betabeat

This is the moneyshot quote. I don’t agree with everything he said but the urgency and the passion and the anger spoke to me.

"We’ll probably never know how many women inventors there were. That’s because in the early years of..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 20:57:18 -0700

“

We’ll probably never know how many women inventors there were. That’s because in the early years of the United States, a woman could not get a patent in her own name. A patent is considered a kind of property, and until the late 1800s laws forbade women in most states from owning property or entering into legal agreements in their own names. Instead, a woman’s property would be in the name of her father or husband.

For example, many people believe that Sybilla Masters was the first American woman inventor. In 1712 she developed a new corn mill, but was denied a patent because she was a woman. Three years later the patent was filed successfully in her husband’s name.

”

- FactMonster.com (via stfuconservatives)

This is why we dismantle systematically.

hitrecordjoe: leftcoastjane: Mother’s Day began in America in...

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:22:23 -0700

hitrecordjoe:

leftcoastjane:

Mother’s Day began in America in 1870 when Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation. Written in response to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, her proclamation called on women to use theirposition as mothers to influence society in fighting for an end to all wars. She called for women to stand up against the unjust violence of war through their roles as wife and mother, to protest the futility of their sons killing other mothers’ sons.

Howe wrote:

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.” Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed …to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mommy! :oD

I want to be Julia Ward Howe.

Good day. (Taken with instagram)

Sat, 12 May 2012 12:11:12 -0700

Good day. (Taken with instagram)

schmoyoho: this must be what happens after every NPR...

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:18:32 -0700

schmoyoho:

this must be what happens after every NPR interview

The build is slow but the result is exquisite.

Texting Cat and Texting Hilary take down ‘viral’ and...

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:54:00 -0700

Texting Cat and Texting Hilary take down ‘viral’ and take on ‘spreadable’ culture.

turnabout: PLEASE CO-HEADLINE TOUR AND BRING THE PUPPY!...

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:07:11 -0700

turnabout:

PLEASE CO-HEADLINE TOUR AND BRING THE PUPPY! KTHXBAI.

A Franz Ferdinand / The Cribs tour would break me. The puppy would then fix that. Perfect match!

We’re going to use Eat. Drink. Collaborate. as often as...

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:07:21 -0700

We’re going to use Eat. Drink. Collaborate. as often as possible, I can tell you that now.

Stress shopping for eye makeup yesterday netted me this gorgeous...

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:39:00 -0700

Stress shopping for eye makeup yesterday netted me this gorgeous pen-style liquid liner, or as I’m calling it THE FINE POINT SHARPIE YOU USE NEAR YOUR EYES! I can already tell we’re going to be friends.