Autumn (the best season, and make no mistake) is on its way.
I have proof.
Or rather, I had proof. But, because I am basically a LOLcat at heart, I eated it. Nom!
The first Mellocreme Pumpkin of the season has been et. Bring on the Autumn!
Fez is ready. She is practicing her hibernation skills with the dog’s squeaky stuffed hedgehog.
Y’all know about the Schadenfreude carnival that is the Cake Wrecks blog, right? No? Well, now you do.
You can get one too… they ship in just a week or so. Ask your favorite bookstore to order you a copy!
Virgin just got a starred review in Publishers Weekly!
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6407200.html?nid=2286
Virgin: The Untouched History
Hanne Blank. Bloomsbury, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59691-010-2“By any material reckoning, virginity does not exist,” writes Blank in this informative, funny and provocative analysis of one of the most elusive—and prized—qualities of human sexuality. Blank, an independent scholar, has pieced together a history of how humans have constructed the idea of virginity (almost always female and heterosexual) and engineered its uses to suit cultural and political forces. Blank has no shortage of fascinating facts: since Western virginity was symbolized by the color white, missionaries viewed nonwhite peoples as sexually immoral; late medieval and Renaissance moralists thought they could detect whether a woman was a virgin by examining her urine (”a virgin’s urine was clear, sparkling, and thin”). Blank also has a pleasing, highly readable style that allows her to convey large amounts of information with wit and agility. But she becomes most animated, and political, when she probes contemporary ideas about virginity. Taking on a range of questions—why is virginity considered sexy? how does the idea of virginity fuel violence against women?—she makes the case that contemporary culture is as obsessed with, and benighted about, virginity, as those of the past. Thoroughly researched, carefully argued and written with a sly sense of humor, this is a bright addition to the popular literature of women’s and cultural studies. (Mar.)
Now it may be that you’ve seen one of these before. Perhaps you’ve seen both of them before.
But if you have, then you know that there is nothing at all wrong with seeing them again. And again and again, if you like.
Lo-Rider, “Skinny” (uncensored and very likely not safe for workplaces)
Anthony Hamilton, “Sista Big Bones” (more worksafe yet still ooohbaby)
I noted to my spouse this morning that had the “Skinny” video been made in 2000, I probably wouldn’t have had to write Big Big Love, I could’ve just told people to go watch.
I’m so excited I can hardly stand it — I’ve just gotten the ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) of Virgin in the mail.
For those who don’t know what an ARC is, it’s the first time in the process of a book’s production that you get to see the book as a physical book, typeset, bound, and with the relevant cover art. All prior incarnations are just stacks of loose pages of one sort or another. The ARC exists so that reviewers and distributors and bookstore representatives and so on can have a convenient book-shaped version of the book, even though it is not quite the same as the final version that’ll end up on the shelves. It is, if you will, the pre-book book.
I keep having to pick it up and open it to make sure it’s really real. After having worked on this book for basically all of the last four years, between research and writing and revision and the production process, it’s almost hard to believe that it’s finally… a real live book.
(It’ll be on the shelves in March 2007. You’ll just have to wait. But trust me, it looks really good.)
Oh, and while I’ve got your attention: if you’re American, and you’re eligible, do please go and VOTE tomorrow, won’t you? Need information on national issues or on your local candidates and/or ballot initiatives? Try The League of Women Voters — you can look up your state/regional chapter, which will have information on your individual state ballots, candidates, issues, etc.
I don’t mean to be partisan, or at least not too partisan, but: let’s throw the bums out. Time to play Put The Reins on the Cowboy, boys and girls!