Missive from the First Dog

did you know that dogs dream of being olympic swimmers and pro golfers? check this latest asinine missive from our lame-duck presidential family - the LAST "Barney Christmas Video"! sent to me by a colleague with the subject "because i think any one of us could do a lot better than this pathetic video."

Take My Quiz - and Hate on Another!

I wrote a quiz on Hello Quizzy and entered in their "The 80s" contest. Not only was writing the test a lot of fun, but I'm actually in 2nd place in both categories (quality and amount of test takers). Usually I don't get all that competitive, but the test that is beating me in quality SUCKS! It's a 16 Candles Trivia test, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the writer doesn't even score your results. I've spent 7 hours or so on making mine as good as possible, and this loser took 80 minutes and then stopped short.

SO! HELP ME WIN!
Take my quiz - What Kind of 80s Metal Are You? and give it a rating!

Then, take the other quiz - 16 Candles Trivia and when you realize it sucks, give it a rating!

And let me know what kind of heavy metal you are - the results still need some tweaking ah think.

Godspeed!

video roundup party

ok ya'll so since the video below is sadly gone, and I'm home sick, i'll share a few vids that have tickled my funny lately.

if you haven't seen this magically delicious music video from LA's king of flowing blonde hair Chris Dane Owens about his epic battle for love, you need to watch it now. I'm pretty sure the Tree from Big Fish makes a cameo along with the bad girl from a yet to be released indie film (shes one of the witches), there could also well be some footage ripped from Lord Of the Rings, & an homage to Pricess Bride or any number of other romantic sci fi adventures. Did he make this to get slathered all over satire sites? Love has Enemies!

80s punk pioneers Bad Brains have been touring intermittently again and crazy crazy lovable weird frontman HR is interviewing himself for something called The Spinner's 'on the DL.' it is awesome. Find out just why he's so crazy-crazy and all about if he's punk or reggae.

Finally, check out Food Party, which is a nutty puppet cooking show filmed in some chick's apartment in the depths Brooklyn. maybe i'm delerious but the Yoko Oh-No bit in episode 3 had me laughing my ass off. her food blog on the same site is pretty cool too, but with not actual recipies. enjoy!

me, im off to sleep on the couch and dream some weirdo suusi dream about some bitch running over my foot because i was driving (a shopping cart?) without shoes on.

It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake - Restored Link!

This has been making its rounds on Internet in the last week.

More cute baby animals!

OK, someone just sent me this and I knew it had to come straight to BG.

Puppies!!!

Monkey and Baby Tigers

We all like animals here at tha BG, so here's a video ah broke my companies "no-streaming-anything" policy ta check out. Florida chimp adopts two baby male white tigers. The cuteness will strangle you.

Check it here on yahoo.

Great Costumes

I work for a mom and pop Internet cafe so I will be working on Halloween this year while they take their kids out. I'm sure three will be a tonnes of Palin costumes.

Here are a couple costumes I've enjoyed seeing on Internet.

Pedo bear and lolli:


Big Daddy and Little Sister:

Halloween fun

It doesn't seem like I can load this scene like a you-tube, because it isn't actually a video but an interactive cartoon. So go to our favorite ice cream guys' website for some Halloween fun. And while yer at it, bring me a pint of Cherry Garcia, and maybe one of Imagine Whirled Peace....

where is everyone?

Hello? have you lost hope? are you in breakdancing godzilla withdrawal? and, most importantly, what's your halloween costume, and where the party at?
i expect a full report from everyone. please also vote in my HI-LARIOUS poll. love, the bg.

Bansky NYC fieldtrip

from the NY Times:

Melena Ryzik writes:

On Wednesday a piece by Banksy, a pseudonymous, secretive British artist, was unveiled at 89 Seventh Avenue South (near Bleecker Street) in Greenwich Village. The installation was a mock pet supply shop, filled with animatronic creatures like a rhesus monkey and would-be creatures like fish sticks swimming in a tank. The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, as the green awning reads, will be open to the public daily through Oct. 31.

also, somewhere in soho (photo by marie)
and there's another one on the corner of Grand and Wooster. lets do a tour!

American Documentarian held unreasonably in Nigeria

hey friends and activists,
documentary filmmaker Andrew Berends has been detained in Nigeria without reason since last weekend. he's not been charged w/ anything, and hasn't been visited by a US State Dept. rep. despite the US' good relationship with Nigeria.

Berends (left) was at SILVERDOCS in 2006 with his previous film Blood of My Brother. Please call your congressman and spread the word and make some noise so Berends can get released, and we can maintain free speech and journalistic integrity!
repost from d-word.org:

NEW YORK, September 2, 2008 – Andrew Berends, an established, award-winning American filmmaker and journalist from New York, was detained Sunday August 31st by the Nigerian military along with his translator, Samuel George, and Joe Bussio, the manager of a local bar. Andrew entered Nigeria legally in April 2008 to complete a documentary film.

Andrew was held in custody without food, sleep, or representation, and with limited water for 36 hours. He was questioned by the army, the police, and the State Security Services in Port Harcourt. He was then temporarily released, with an order to the SSS office at 9AM Tuesday morning. The State Security Services has confiscated his passport and personal property. Andrew's translator, Samuel George, remained in custody over night.
....
Andrew entered the country legally as a filmmaker and journalist. He was filming in a public place in a country that claims to be a democracy when he was arrested. He was not filming oil facilities or the military, which are the only two subjects the Nigerian government has deemed to be sensitive. We have been told that on the day he was detained, Andrew even asked and was granted permission by a military official prior to filming.

more info, including details on how to reach your congressman about this, and what to say are here:
here's how to find out who your congressman is, and how to contact them: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

here is a link to all the members of the House Sub-Committe on Africa:
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/members.asp?committee=africa

** For the latest updates about the situation and to strategize about how to help, go to the Free Andy Berends topic on The D-Word: http://www.d-word.com/topics/show/147?read=new

** There is also a Help Andy Blog: http://helpandy.wordpress.com/

Convention, cranberry beans, you know, a monday.

hey ya'll. i'm feeling like an east coast democrat simmering cranberry beans and vaguely watching the DNC on Channel 13 in our brooklyn apartment. i was just reminded that our friend Sarah Wheaton is blogging for the NYT Caucus blog all this convention, and lucky her, the next. check it out all week to give her the strength to make it to the next.

Zombie Claymation Goodness

Ah know, two zombie-related posts in a row, but ah think some of you will enjoy the followin video, Chainsaw Maid. It's gawt a few brief seconds of a twin peaks theme as well!

Zombie Classical Metal?

So ahll post a full background on my personal blog, but ah wanted to draw attention to a band ah saw this weekend (headlinin my friends' band Geographer's CD release party), Judgement Day, a string metal band. Yep, heavy-fawkin-metal, with drums, cello, n violin. If you needed anutha reason to like them, check out thar ZOMBIE VIDEO!



Have ah mentioned that San Francisco is pretty fawkin awesome recently?

did you lose this? in the 60s?

In the strange art world news, some guy leading a secret life (the secret was that he was not as fabulous as he said he was) has died, leaving no will and millions of dollars of stolen paintings behind. the FBI wants to know if they belong to you.

apparently one Mr. "William Milliken Vanderbilt Kingsland, a threadbare eccentric and an amateur genealogist of the Upper East Side," was never married to a French royal (i only told him that to get to the art) never went to harvard (he lied to me!) and was actually a pauper named Melvyn. nice collection though, if a little disconnected.

i think this one's mine...

Beardy cap!?

Hey,
I found a new thing that you guys who know how to knit can knit for me. A BEARDY CAP! You can give it to me for any number of special occasions and holidays coming up. I want a black and purple one. See if you can make it have a wild hairdo also.

If you're lazy, but rich you could buy me THE beardy cap from Vík Prjónsdóttir. They are a collective of artists from Iceland who make many great and adorable things. They invented the beard cap.

If you're not rich enough to go to Iceland to get one (but still rich enough to pay $145) then you can just go to Brooklyn's Scandinavian Grace, located at 167 N 9th St. Scandinavian Grace is a trendy, local Ikea-esque decorhaven! I called to ask if they hand any beard caps in stock, and they do! They stock them in light gray, dark gray, and brownish. They are also available in two different lengths, short and long. The shop keep kindly informed me that the short ones are more popular, but that I should come see for myself. You just have to take the L Train from 14th street and get off at Bedford. Remember to sit in the back of the train to make sure you get off on the right side of the stop.

From the Vík Prjónsdóttir website:
"THE BEARD CAPS

The beard caps refer to a traditional cap called “lambshed-hood” which was used in Iceland by farmers who in heavy snowstorms had to walk long distances between their sheds and to the neighboring farms. The cap covered both head and neck and had only a small opening for the face."

I WANT

Bright Idea UPDATE!

UPDATE:
LEARN MORE, CLICK HERE!

I found this guys website, but I still can't track down the machine. I think it moves around.

Once again if anyone in NYC sees one of these can you please buy it and photograph your adventure for a BG post?


Here's an idea from his website:

"Pick up someone else's camera.
Let your face got completely slack.
Shake hard.
Flash.
Wait for it to be found.
Smile."

Man gives birth!

In March, The Humble Observer reported to us that a Transgendered man is PREGGERS! Of course that was some time ago and now Thomas Beatie has given birth to a healthy baby girl. His wife is breast feeding through induced lactation and everyone is rocking and rolling. Read more here.



On a sort of related note, I saw the film Transamerica this weekend and I though it was pretty good (but not great). What did you guy think?

Datin fer tha Undead....

Created by Mingle2.com (Dating for non-zombies)

Just wish you could actually click on stuff....

Is rock and roll juice contained in the kidney?

I'm not sure how I missed this one.

I went to look at the Valient Thorr website because I'm heading to their show this Sunday at Black Cat. Turns out Valient recently donated his kidney to his dad.

There is actual blood and guts footage halfway through!

Valient Thorr kidney donation video diary (altpress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

Question: will Dad now have a strange compulsion to proselytize the masses to the sweet sweet gospel of rock and roll?

Associated Press Bestsellers Cat Scares Bear

Cat Scares Bear
you go, Kittie!

Panties n creepy film directors

Ahm nawt such a fan of tha editing job, minus tha twin peaks musick in tha background, but fer those of you cravin some awkward David Lynch, look nae furthah....

Bright Idea

A re-post from the Wooster Collective. It's cheaper than art-o-mat.
If anyone sees one of these can you please buy it and photograph your adventure for a BG post?

"50 Cents Per Idea"



From Charlie Todd:

"Jake Bronstein recently bought a toy vending machine off the Internet. He filled the toy capsules with ideas of fun things to do and started placing the machine in various spots around New York. For 50 cents you get the original toy, an idea, and a map to guide you to the location for your idea. Each capsule also contains a quarter, refunding half of your purchase price (the machine wouldn’t let him charge less than 50 cents.)"

buy paintings support film

hey gang. some guys i know thru the IFP Labs are selling some of their paintings to support the completion of their film. Their film is El Coyote, kind of a western-horror in the b-movie style, with some magical realism and tequila thrown in for spice. the painter is Sergio Coyote who's also the bandito/devil/star of the film and it's producer. He's calling his works 'psychic manipulation of paint' or vomit style. I'm kind of into 'The Dead' and 'Early Vomit' series. If you're feeling like buying a painting, you could buy one of his and get a credit in El Coyote, and support two arts at once.

Not! A! CRIME!

OK so here is a clip I shot at the Gogol Bordello show I recently attended. I was so impressed at the audio quality of my little camera when I watched the video on quick time, but when I uploaded to youtube it really stunk it up. At least Eugene is fun to watch. I don't think he ever stops moving. When the next issue of RVA comes out I'll link you to it and you can read about how I may or may not have seen a LOT more of Eugene than most jounralists. haha.

zombie strippers, kind of awesome

Zombie Strippers is available for download on your favorite pirating site right now. you may recall my excited post about it when i was seeing electric green posters of Jenna Jameson in a corset all over mid-town. d. + i watched it last night, and it's ridiculous-amazing. it's definitely an ultra-indie, low-budget horror-soft core-political drama. it's written directed, and shot by Jenna's boytoy and b-movie auteur Jay Lee, who seems to have pulled most of the dialogue from other movies, adding yet another level of kitsch and inside joke to the film.
we decided you could write a trilogy of analytical papers on the film, covering the anti-war / anti-bush propaganda, including the american malaise to get involved in protesting what they may feel is wrong, the male gaze and female empowerment, and kind of an overview of the genre-ripping they do, making a perfectly campy & over the top survey of the best (& worst) of b-horror and zombie films. also, amazing costumes, and about 50/50 zombie killing/stripping.
anyway, i recommend that you get your friends together & have a few and check out this tits + gore extravaganza, have a really good laugh and say 'oh damn! no they didn't!' a few times. look out for my feminist response another time

Reverse Graffiti!

Paul Curtis aka “Moose” makes "reverse graffiti" by power washing filthy surfaces using a Clorox Green Works cleaning product and gigantic heavy duty wooden stencils. Some one has made a pretty cool film (/ad for Clorox) about it.

Curtis: "I have this weird thing about dirt where I just look around for it all the time; I'm a professor of dirt"

From the Reverse Graffiti Project website

On April 15, 2008 in San Francisco, Green Works brought together an English reverse graffiti artist and a critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker, to create an environmentally friendly work of art and a film about a philosophy of clean.



I read in Wikipedia that Curtis was recently arrested in the UK for his work, I know of a few other instances where "reverse graffiti" artists have been hassled by the cops, but they are just CLEANING. What they are doing may be considered a nuisance by some, but they're not doing anything illegal, technically. In fact, one could argue that they are prompting the city to keep cleaner streets.

So, who wants to buy me a jig saw and a power washer?

graffitti animation

dang.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

found this on one of the Lab filmmaker's blogs, its not his but, the new short film by Blu
an ambiguous animation painted on public walls. Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden

how many hours/days/weeks did this take? how amazing!

Waiting for Waits

Hey all you gravel-voiced Tom Waits fan out there, did ya know he is on a "Glitter and Doom" tour? Well here's the crazy explanation he has for the cities chosen for the tour.
From Waits' True Confessions Q: Do you have words to live by?A: Jim Jarmusch once told me “Fast, Cheap, and Good… pick two. If it’s fast and cheap it wont be good. If it’s cheap and good it won’t be fast. If it’s fast and good it wont be cheap.” Fast, cheap and good… pick (2) words to live by.

Sunshine Through The Rain

Me again. There's thick clouds over midtown, and the sun is trying to peep through. Days like this never fail to remind me of my all-time favorite beautiful short film Sunshine Through The Rain from Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. Have I mentioned this before? Can I ever not mention this film when it's rainy and sunny together?

In the film, a young boy ignores his mother's call to come home; its' about to rain, but the sun is out, one of those lovely rainbow-inducing spring days, the kind where foxes and rabbits have their woodsy weddings. the boy witnesses the secret ceremony, and is caught watching. a fox beats him home and leaves a forboding message with his mother, she turns him away from home.

If you haven't seen it yet, you can see it on yutube, get it on n'flix or come over to ours anytime for a viewing of this + the peach blossom ghosts.

documentaries for you!

Hi! everyone might already know that im all movies all the time lately, so i thought I'd share some with you!

All That We Consume dave & I made this short doc for the International Documentary Challenge this year. you can watch it at the link. We didn't win any prizes except fun and satisfaction! cut us some slack, it was made completely within 5 days, and shows just about everything we consumed that day. did you know that we, conservative water users, use something like 65 gallons of water A DAY?

You can watch the winning Doc Challenge film Ars Magna on PBS' best venue for documentary POV in July when it airs before screenings of Arts Engine's Election Day. (I worked with Arts Engine & Election Day's producers on the IFP Doc Labs)


Watch BOLERIUM online for free! my friend Nate Kensinger's film, Bolerium, can be downloaded for free from Indiepix this week only. do it now & before May 21, because if you do, Nate will actually get paid for the download & for being a filmmaker, and this is good.

"Bolerium" captures a day-in-the-life at one of America's most important independent bookstores - Bolerium Books - run from a hidden location in the heart of San Francisco's immigrant/radical Mission District.

Look out for his and Megan O'Hara's latest short Covered Tracks at festivals and stuff near you!

INDIEEEEE!

This is the Crystal Skull from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Impressive.

This is Britist artist Damien Hirst's platinum skull entitled "For the Love of God." It is encrusted with 8,601 pave-set diamonds weighing 1,106.18 carats. The single large diamond in the middle of the forehead is reportedly worth $4.2 million alone. It sold for $100 million in cash to an unnamed investment group.



I'm just saying.

New Blog!

Pizzalicious
Check it out!

Super Mario Bento

AWESOME! Check out these Super Mario Bros bento boxes

Look what I found!

I don't know about you guys but I need more crocheting in my life, or at least I need to get some of this crocheted stuff. Check out this amazing work from Joy Kampia O'Shell

My Brother has a website for Photos!

Now, my brother is no Dave Smooooth (for many reasons), but he can shoot a pretty decent photograph w. his expensive cameras. Unlike Mr. Smooooth he prefers color fer tha most part, n mostly focuses on tha outdoors (instead of bloody bibles or zombies - are we sure this kid's a severo?) However, despite his lack of similarities w. everyone's favorite surly jerk, he still ken shoot a pretty kickass photo of some woods er otha hippy shite. He also writes essays every once in a while (this is the same kid who only passed 12 grade english b/c his teacher had me two years ago n thought I was some kinda charming smarty pants. Well, maybe no ONLY, but it certainly slanted tha cards in his favor). Ahm pretty proud of him....


(this is my favorite, taken from his Richmond Apartment)

Marc Severo Photography - This link works now btw.

Public Arts

There's this SF Arts Commission who makes sure that there is publick art out in SF. One of tha aspects ah like tha most is tha Arts of Market Street Program which put art on tha kiosks generally used fer advertising throughout tha very long, busy, and central Market St in 'Frisco (which no one actually calls 'frisco). It's a great example of how art ken be made publically available, n ah sure appreciate havin somethang worthwhile ta look at instead of anutha advertisement as ah walk in downtown.

Apparently, tha series ah really enjoyed recently is ovah, but ahve seen some of tha postahs still up. It's tha Wish You Were Here! Postcards from our Awesome Future installment. Apparently some artists talked to Bay Area rchitects, urban planners and transportation engineers and asked them "What would you do if you didn't have to worry about budgets, bureaucracy, politics or physics?" Then they created 6 silly posters elaborating on these ideas.

My favorite is tha Z-Line, which is a zipwire from San Francisco to Oakland - here's a bettah photo. These posters will supposedly be on sale at some point in time, so ahm gawna try n stay vigilant n aware so ah ken grab one.

On a down-note, how tha hell dae ah nawt have anyone in tha area who wants to see tha "Zombie Strippers" premiere tonight n attend a Q&A w. tha writer/director? Ah just can't justify gaein intae SF ta see a movie by myself....

new sins for 2008!

in case you didn't know, the Pope's in town.
In March, Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti listed seven "new" sins:

Environmental pollution
Genetic manipulation
Accumulating excessive wealth
Inflicting poverty
Drug trafficking and consumption
Morally debatable experiments
Violation of fundamental rights of human nature


do you think that girotti had a conference call with god to sort these out? were there others that almost made the list but weren't quite sinful enough? is having sex with a condom still a sin? really? is he sure that this isn't part of the updates for the new millennia that god apparently wants?
and, does the Vatican consider it's own wealth excessive? or, probably they 'need' all that money for the popemobile. gas prices are quite high...

women/work environment poll

hi- a friend in business school in Paris is doing her masters' thesis on the women's professional cycle, and how it differs from men's. She's doing a survey of everyone (men & women) thoughts on the subject, so if you have a minute, take a survey! help a grad student out! you'd want us to do it for you!

speaking of PIZZA!

"The Wonderpizza Machine is the first super-automatic dispenser for a real, hot crispy pizza in three different choices, served on a practical tray in short time, less then 2 minutes!
The first machine's part is a refrigeration unit, which keeps the pizza's temperature between 0 and +4°C; the second one houses an electrical oven that it cooks in Hight Intensity Toasted Oven atmosphere (NO MICROWAVE). Each vending machine holds up to 102 pizzas in three different flavours. "

Check out how it works!

cat can plays theremin?

Pizza-La!

Check out this silly ad for Pizza-La in Japan! While you're at it check out some other insane pizza commercials from Japan. Pizza Hut in Japan has some really weird pizza!

"They are good girls."

"They're zombies!"
"No, they are strippers."
"They're Zombie Strippers." {cocks rifle)

starring Jenna Jameson.

in theaters April 18!

WANT.

gimme. even if it is from three seasons ago. Marcel Dzama and fancy pursemaker MZ Wallace collaborated on these gold/diamond bats, octopi (movable legs!), and benoosed bears in 2005. they were $5k. my birthday was recently.

it's a base urge apparently. going against my usual disinterest in gold/diamonds.

Attn: Foodies!

BREAD - WATER - SALT - OIL

Here is a charming blog I stumbled on to. I think you'll like it (especially you Maya)!

From the blog:
"My name is June and I live near Bath in Somerset, England. The West Country produces great organic produce, some of the best beef and lamb in the country, wonderful cheeses including Cheddar, excellent cider, cream and yoghourt, and artisan bread. I want to write about a passion for food, where it comes from, what's good about it, what to do with it. We are all trying to buy more locally produced, seasonal produce, cutting down on the food miles and improving the taste of what we put on the plate. That's why this blog is called Bread, Water, Salt, Oil... that's the basics!
Last Word
--and to paraphrase Nigel Slater... "When we say bread we mean proper, and when we say water we mean clean, and when we say salt we mean sea, and when we say oil we mean olive.""

AIR BEAR!

About This Video: On the streets of New York, Joshua Allen Harris creates inflatable animals by tying plastic shopping bags to the subway grates.

More here!

Est-ce que tu aimes?

My favorite French heartthrob, -M- (Mathieu Chedid), teamed up with Arthur H (the French Tom Waits) for an awesome song and an award winning music video. If anyone can translate this song let me know. I can't find the lyrics on the internet. I can make out some of it but I only have a year of French under my belt. Aren't they so rugged in their cowboy costumes? ha ha!

Axl's a Pepper!

Dr. Pepper has tried to light a fire under the ass of GnR's Axl Rose to finally release the long awaited GnR album "Chinese Democracy." Dr. Pepper claims that they will give away a free Dr. Pepper to everyone in the US (excluding ex-Guns members Slash and Buckethead) if the album is released at any time during 2008.

From: Reuters

Read AXL's response at www.gunsnroses.com

Anutha Metal Review

ta prove ahm nawt all Kylie -->

Here is my review of tha new Children of Bodom album Blooddrunk which ah found very interestin actually.

How ah rebel against my metal roots....

By listenin to tha new Kylie Minogue album. Ahm sorry, ah just can't help it. Ah did this last time w. that "hung up" song. N before then when ah was a tot ta her locomotion. Ahm only human, n apparently unable ta resist sultry sex-typed singin ovah modern disco. ahm so ashamed.....but it feels so rite.

W. - The Movie!

i can't stop cracking up about Oliver Stone's casting for his latest film 'W.' - about, you guessed it, W's formative years. the cast is:

W: Josh Brolin, Llewellyn from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, also bad zombie doctor in PLANET TERROR. also he debuted in THE GOONIES.



Laura: Elizabeth Banks, hot off Kevin Smith's ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO; also "Scrubs" and one of the bad dates (the lip biter) on 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN


Barbara: Ellen Burstyn, the speeded out mom from REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, along with assorted other roles in which she plays grandmas, angels or clergy. As a young'un, Burstyn was an acrobat and a showgirl.

George Herbert Walker: James Cromwell, who has also played LBJ (twice!) and Prince Phillip. he also tends to play clergy. look at those teeth!


Based on the cast, i predict this film will be a sex comedy with gun violence and religious undertones.

Per Variety: "The film is expected to be ready for distribution possibly by the November presidential elections and certainly before Bush leaves the White House in January." Get ready america! pubescent presidential romps, revealed!

lollergirls

Maya turned me on to this website and it was so funny that I had to submit some pics of my own. Check out the hilarious blog, I Can Has Lead Jammer. It has roller derby pics in the vein of the lolcatz of I Can Has Cheesburger.
So funny!

Transgender Man is PREGGERS!

This is awesome in SOOO many ways, ah can't even begin to count them:

link is here

Boing Boing - A directory of wonderful things
Transgender man is pregnant
Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, March 24, 2008 1:01 PM

Thomas Beattie lives in Oregon and is married to a woman named Nancy. He's pregnant.

To our neighbors, my wife, Nancy, and I don’t appear in the least unusual. To those in the quiet Oregon community where we live, we are viewed just as we are -- a happy couple deeply in love. Our desire to work hard, buy our first home, and start a family was nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until we decided that I would carry our child.

I am transgender, legally male, and legally married to Nancy. Unlike those in same-sex marriages, domestic partnerships, or civil unions, Nancy and I are afforded the more than 1,100 federal rights of marriage. Sterilization is not a requirement for sex reassignment, so I decided to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy but kept my reproductive rights. Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire.

Hey!

Hey, with my introductory post, I thought I'd post about something that's related to Japan and crafts, two things that are relevant to my interests.

http://www.kintyaku.com/ is a website that has information about making things out of the silk from old ties. The site is in Japanese and English, as is the book (I have a copy if anybody's interested). Check out the dress made of ties!

Youko was a student of mine and I helped her sort out some of the English for the book. I got a little silk-tie bag and a copy of the book in return!

I recently made an ipod holder using an old sock and some sew-on snaps. Do you guys do any recycling in your crafts-related projects?

SXSW '08

Today in the Performance Royalty Debate a very nice female panelist whose last name was Whynot (I didn't catch her first name) said, "artists are entitled to make a living from their art." I'm not sure I agree with her. Is the commodification of art a right? The ability to ask a person for money before you give them access to your art is a basic freedom in this society. "Making a living" is a market driven idea and it would be ideal to live in a society who valued art enough for people to make a living creating it (be that through government support or otherwise), but is it necessary for society or humans to survive? I'm not convinced. Is it necessary for art to survive?


We heard folk rock singer Martha Wainwright (daughter of Loudon) this evening at 5 - she sounded good, had a cute dress, and also wrote the song, Bloody Mother Fuckin' Asshole. That photo's by Ken Schles.

i can has costume?

i was going to post on this too! everyone loves Jinx the shark dog. if you don't maybe you should check to see if your heart is made of stone.

vote for her as cutest dog in some humane society contest where she will win fancy portraits and fancy dog food.

here's the direct link so you have no excuses: do it now lest she be forced to gnaw your face off (with kisses).

xo
the jinx fan club.

Spay Day

OK, I'm a slacker and did this late, but if you see this today, March 7, Please go vote for my dog JINX in the Humane Society Spay Day pet picture contest (go to Search/Vote, then find Jinx). If she wins, we get a session with a leading pet photographer, which could be hilarious since Jinx in afraid of cameras! (Except when she is wearing her shark costume, of course.) I had a newer picture, but couldn't get it to load, so this one will have to do. I know everyone in BG blog land loves their spayed and neutered pets...

Nobody puts Baby in the corner.

Patrick Swayze has been diagnosed with cancer. And the National Enquirer got it wrong again.
Check the Village Voice

it's warm and overcast in New York today and dave (in dc's logan circle) and I (in ny's flower district) are trying not to throw up - waiting expectantly to hear today if we got a pretty great apartment we applied for in Brooklyn. send your good thoughts to us. send your anti-nervous rays at us too - we do this too much.



how're you?