a very special holiday kitteh

Hey I just saw Milk! Or: 10 things the gay mainstream WANTS you to believe about queer history!

1. YES WE CAN has MOAR images of homo respectability!
2. gay rights = african american rights = ladies' rights = consumer's rights = whatever = &c., &c. (This is why, for instance, African Americans must have their leaders and gay Americans must have our own leaders.)
3. If u are gay and want change and whatnot u should definitely get out of the streets and into the campaign office because that is where politics happen.
4. The Tenderloin smells like pee.
5. DO NOT FEAR: Contrary to popular belief, gay men do not have sex, they just get naked and slap each other's butts while rolling around and giggling.
6. oh im sorry were you expecting AJ to insert some comment about the post-Stonewall gay liberation movement and how it evinced a very different set of politics and praxis than can be found in the biopic Milk? WELL UNFORTUNATELY THAT WOULD BE HARD TO DO BECAUSE IN THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THAT MOVIE GAY LIBERATION SEEMS TO HAVE NEVER HAPPENED.
7. One lesbian is PLENTY.
8. HEY WE PAY TAXES!
9. Individually, coming out is the most important thing a homosexual can do in his life; collectively, coming out is the most effective strategy for alleviating pretty much anything that would ever be objectionable to a homosexual community.
10. OMG finally we must thank our lucky stars for the white gender conforming male homosexuals of yesteryear because otherwise how would any of us have any RIGHTS and stuff? TRULY I TELL YOU WE WOULD HAVE NONE.

ok

it is unspeakably embarrassing that it took a feministe post for me to finally see the video for this song which has been around for like 4eva but i gotta say this its simply aj's favorite video he's seen all year. it makes me miss new york so bad my heart hurts like its died a thousand deaths

ps MIA is relevant to my interests

quickhit: <3 internet, feminism <3

I'm not sure what is more relevant to my interests: the NYT blog article on orgasmic childbirth or the fact that the very first question Feministing's readership picked up on is whether having an orgasm from a baby traveling through your vagina raises questions of consent with regard to the baby.

Keep having ideas, everyone... AJ likes it!

let's talk about the weather

AJ was getting bummed because the balmy 37˚ weather we're experiencing right now is about to plummet about 50 degrees and not make it above 0˚ tomorrow (how am I supposed to get to school) until I decided to mess around and see what kind of weather everyone else is having...

In defense of Mother Russia, it looks like it's about 2 AM right now in the North Pole of Cold, so idk maybe it'll get up there as the day wears on. If you're like AJ, you might now be wondering what's the coldest part of the United States, and if you saw 30 Days of Night, you might be thinking, "Oh! It's Barrow, Alaska!" but you would be wrong as Barrow is right there on the Arctic Ocean, which basically acts as an insulator. In fact, the weather in Barrow right now is not so different from Minneapolis. Landlocked parts of Alaska (as tends to be true for landlocked areas in general) get much colder, making Fairbanks one of the coldest cities in the U.S. Now, the *northernmost* western hemispheric city AJ was able to locate on weather.com is Iqaluit, Canada, which is the capital of Nunavet and somewhat further north than Barrow. The northernmost permanently-inhabited settlement in the western hemisphere is the Canadian Forces Station Alert on Ellesmere Island in Nunavet, but that's not on weather.com so whatever. 

Anyway, USA Today confirms that Minneapolis is the coldest major city in the United States. Boo. Minnesota is also home to International Falls, known as the Icebox of the Nation, supposedly the coldest town in the continental U.S., though apparently this has been challenged by Fraser, Colorado. Hm, I think I've been there. On the other hand, the *snowiest* U.S. cities (according to a different USA Today article) are neither in Minnesota nor (as one might expect) upstate New York. Blue Canyon, California, weirdly, takes the snow cake. 

Anyway that's all I have to say about that!

UPDATE TO ADD: OMG! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WITH ALL OF THIS TALK OF CANADA AJ NEGLECTED TO MENTION THAT WOLVERINE TRAILER IS 110% RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS 

spitzface is now a meme!

MY GUBERNATORIAL "OOPS" FACE... LET ME SHOW YOU IT!

:-[

AJ gives props: VIKING METAL

And now for another installment of lolAJ's intermittent feature: Props!

Do you know what is exceedingly awesome? VIKING METAL. It is a well established fact that few things approach the awesomeness of viking metal. It is also true that nothing is more EPIC. AJ has been thinking about viking metal a lot lately and is pretty grateful that such a thing exists. Unlike his little brother, however, AJ is far from an expert metal connoisseur and there are probably all kinds of things he doesn't even know about viking metal! However, here are a few videos that AJ particularly enjoys and wishes to share with his readers.

Turisas: "Battle Metal" (probably the greatest viking metal video in existence)

Amon Amarth: Twilight of the Thunder Gods

Einherjer: Iron Bound

Bathory: One Rode to Asa Bay

Enjoy! Hope I didn't alienate too many readers lololol! xo-AJ

PS: ODIN OWNS YE ALL!!!!1ONE

Ask a Lesbian: Proposition 8!

AJ apologizes for the wait readers have endured to hear Nell's thoughts on Proposition 8 (moar liek prop h8 amirite) -- presently our fearless lesbian is keeping a very busy schedule fighting hard to secure same sex domestic partner benefits for pharmacists! Without further ado, lolAJ is pleased to present to you: ASK A LESBIAN --- PROPOSITION 8. 

Wait but first! Some music to set the mood...

READERS WANT TO KNOW

Dear Nell,

Which do you think is more significant: that Americans elected a black president or that they banned gay marriage in California?

thanks,

interested

Dear Interested,

In fact, neither one is significant. Both are simply spectacles distracting us from substantive issues. 

Cynically yours,

Nell

-----------------------------

Dear Nell,

In a post-racist and post-proposition 8 country, what is the most important thing Gay Americans can be doing to work for marriage equality and other gay civil rights?

thanks nell!

Dear post-racist,

The most important thing Gay Americans can be doing these days is making it clear to everyone that they are simply Americans who happen to be Gay.

Your in assimilation,

Nell

-----------------------------

Dear Nell,

Which do you think is a bigger problem: racism in gay and lesbian communities? Or homophobia in African American communities?

thanks,

concerned


Dear Concerned,

I think the biggest problem is YOU.

Sincerely,
Nell

P.S. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/04/poll-prop-8-voting-driven_n_148379.html

-----------------------------

Dear Nell,

Which out and proud gay celebrity would you rather be and why: Ellen Degeneres or Jane Lynch?

sincerely,

curious


Dear Curious,

That's a great question. While Ellen has a certain appeal that comes with daytime tv stardom and really became the face of the anti-Prop 8 movement as people tearfully asked each other, "But what will happen to Ellen and Portia??," I'd have to go with Jane Lynch. She's just got more of a sense of irony, from what I can tell. By looking at her. 

Keep reading!

-Nell

kwik hitz

via Feministe, AJ has learned of SRLP's recent victory in getting a bar to legal name changes removed--"possible confusion" is no longer a valid reason to deny a name change petition if an individual is going from a masculine to a feminine name or vice versa. In my ignorance, I did not realize that petitions in NY (where AJ had his name legally changed) were regularly denied on these grounds.

AJ's a little tickled because "fraught with... confusion" is precisely how he'd describe his entire experience living as a transgendered person.

I am still waiting on SRLP to get some kind of ban on judges doling out patronizing lectures to trans people who are going through name change processes tho I guess in the end they make for good stories.

WHEN I SAY DYKES YOU SAY OMFG

Resident lesbian expert Nell has brought my attention to the New York Times piece on Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For, which I cannot but recommend as exceedingly hilarious. The article, of course, mostly reveals more about the reviewer, American political culture, and the paltry tools most Americans have to think about politics beyond an extremely narrow partisan scope than it ever tells us about Bechdel's work. Reviewer Dwight Garner, for instance, assesses the political content of Dykes to Watch Out For as "Greenpeace meets PETA meets MoveOn.org" to which I can only properly respond via kittycat:

Garner also seems sort of surprised that a lesbian writer of comics would be familiar with Foucault, Butler, et al, demonstrating that he has never actually met a lesbian who went to Oberlin. I did appreciate however his comment that "You'll come to notice that lesbians have been, over the last 25 years, on the cutting edge of just about every cultural trend in this country." HEAR HEAR! Tho AJ might offer a tiny rejoinder that on the matter of tattoos, lesbians tend to be about 12 years behind the times. Other things our journalist discovered thru his perusal of Dykes to Watch Out For:

- lesbians became the first foodies when they all went vegetarian

- lesbians composted stuff way before the rest of us even knew what a carbon footprint is

- lesbians had weird names before the rest of us

- lesbians wanted to impeach the FIRST Bush!

In the end, I have to concur with our intrepid reviewer: Dykes to Watch Out For is not (just) a comic, it is ETHNOGRAPHY. And should be considered required reading for lesbians and non-lesbians alike!

2 things

SCORPIONS? IN YOUR BANANAS?? It's more likely than you think! AJ has unearthed not one but two articles on scorpions in bananas from the last couple months. Eek! AJ is sort of arachnophobic, for those who did not know.

Feministing weighs in on Alex Kuczynski's piece on surrogate babying. AJ: RANT RANT RANT LOL! wtf lol feminists rant rant rant baby pwnage stfu! RANT rant adoption do not want babies aj's mom has a foster baby too rofl. Baby mama wtf! Read Gawker's post instead. Also... moar on TEH KUCZ.

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PS: zomgz0rz! tina fey's hubby tots talked about her scar in vanity fair