melicious morsels 03.05.13

I now have rainbow hair!

Why hello there! It's been far too long! Months, in fact. I won't make any excuses for my extended absence, but I will let you know what I've been doing instead: 

I am still traveling to Sydney for a few days each week for my work. The travel has cut down my free time a bit, but it has also given me a weekly opportunity to feel justified in watching The Vampire Diaries. You win some, you lose some. While working I have written about my rainbow hair and marriage equality (yep, at the same time), how I think both rape and racism are inexcusable (this, kind of surprisingly, didn't go down well), Femen's "topless jihad day", and the sexism that appears to be inherent in O-Week at Australian universities. 

I have been volunteering as a media coordinator with a new youth-run, Canberra-based reproductive and women's rights organisation called Vocal Majority. We recently pulled together a conference that included speakers such as Anne Summers, Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Anna Rose, Clementine Ford and Stella Young! You can read about that conference here, here and here. If you want to make it look like I'm really good at my job, you should think about liking Vocal Majority on Facebook, or following the organisation on Twitter. 

I'm also volunteering with the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, which will be coming to Canberra at the beginning of June - the program looks rad. 

I've written a few other things around the place, too. Mostly reviews, for films such as Danny Boyle's Trance, the astonishingly bad Hyde Park on Hudson, Jack the Giant Slayer with cute kid Nicholas Hoult, the fab Warm Bodies also with cute kid Nicholas Hoult, and Oz the Great and Powerful. I also have an article about feminism, fairytales and film in the latest print issue of Lip magazine (issue 23), which you can buy here. 

Oh, and I'm supposed to be doing my Masters degree! But I kind of keep forgetting about that. Oops. JSYK, if I'm ever away from the blog again for so long you can keep up with what I'm writing on twitter, and all the exciting things I do (read: all the cups of coffee I consume) on Intstagram. Oh, and I'm still posting things to Tumblr! 

But enough about me! Let's talk links! And, as always, a cappella covers!

This week in the news, retired journalist Geoffrey Barker wrote this piece of sexist crap, where he criticises commercial broadcast news. Or rather, couches his criticism of commercial broadcast news in outrageous sexism and about 400 words arguing that pretty women don't deserve to be on television. Here's a response from Mamamia editor Jamila Rizvi. Here's some more sense, and a little more. 

Oh, and hey - today is World Press Freedom Day. In celebration, Lip is looking at some home grown female journalistic talent.

Sir Patrick Stewart speaks out on violence against women. 

Tiny adorable tattoos! These are so tasteful. Personally, I'm thinking of getting a miniature pineapple. Which is slightly less tasteful perhaps, but yes? Yes! 

In defence of Femen. Could not agree with this article by Jamie Freestone more. 

The rise of fashion peacocking / the attention economy. "And given the choice because a circus and a flock of interchangeable “crows,” I’ll take a colourful, creative, over-the-top circus any time."

7 fashion rules you should definitely break. Sequins in the daytime! Yes! 

Cups (When I'm Gone) - Pitch Perfect A Cappella cover. You must've missed morsels because of the lack of a cappella in your life every week, right? 

Hot men and kittens. Pulling similar poses. Lololol. 

27 Amazing things we might get in a Gilmore Girls movie. I wish this show had never ended. 

Speaking of, the 27 stages of getting addicted to a tv show. 

I love these weird animal combinations. 

Hopefully it won't be long til I see you next. Anything you'd like to share from your internet travels? x

bite size wisdom: be kind to everyone

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melicious morsels 08.03.13

Happy International Women's Day, dear readers! Are you wearing green and purple today?

Read... 

Do you support women's access to safe, legal and affordable sexual and reproductive health services? Then maybe check out Vocal Majority on facebook and twitter.

The team at Jezebel are asking the tough questions: do we need the word 'feminism'?  I had a long debate with a work colleague about this just yesterday, and they did make some convincing arguments - but I still tend to think we should not abandon the word. We should be educating people about what the word means, at its most basic level, instead of giving in to ignorance.

Can men be feminists? From the managing editor of Men and Feminism, published on The Vine.

US Secretary of State John Kerry writes, "The world's problems cannot be solved without the participation of women".

What should we be focussing on this International Women's Day? Anne Summers talks violence against women.

Clementine Ford talks sexism and the media. "On the whole, people are willing to ignore the facts of discrimination in favour of how something feels to them. But as my therapist helpfully reminded me yesterday, thoughts and feelings are not facts. And the bare boned facts show that society and culture remains decidedly unequal in terms of female representation, and respect for women’s contribution and equality."

Vivienne Westwood slams Michelle Obama's clothes. Disappointing, Ms Westwood. Especially in the context of talking about the fact that Michelle Obama 'recycles' her clothes. That is - shock! horror! - she has been photographed wearing the same outfit more than once. I suppose I am linking to this, because I feel like this is exactly the sort of unnecessary comment women tend to make about other women, because... I don't know. Because putting down other women has become an ingrained part of our cultural psyche. Because to criticise other women - whether they be celebrities or a stranger on the street - for something as nothing as the clothes they wear, is normal. And that just makes me very sad.

As an antidote to that sadness: how to be a successful optimist.

Why are romantic comedies so bad?

8 crazy things (almost) every 20-something is guilty of.

Look at...

Photos of baby animals inside the womb. Mind-blowing.

 

melicious morsels 02.03.13

Margot Tenenbaum.

We're now in the third month of 2013, and I admit that as the adrenaline of a New Year and all the New Opportunities I have been presented with  begins to wear off, I am finding myself increasingly... tired. Bone weary. Like I just want to nap, just for five minutes, you know?

The most irritating thing is that my weariness is not due to any one commitment I have taken on - nor even the total number of my commitments! It's just that I have a tendency to want to do everything. I want to see all my friends, every week. I want to go to every art show and every gig, and see every film (and sometimes films can be pretty draining - and long! Like Cloud Atlas!).

But something needs to change. I think March will be my month of realising I can't do everything.

More importantly, I don't want to do everything. I want to make sure I have enough mental and emotional energy to really commit myself to doing a good job at my various jobs - I don't want to feel half-awake and half-competent. I hate feeling only half-competent at things!

So I'm going to slow down. I'm going to do less. I'm going to remember to eat three square meals a day, and take the time to paint my nails. Do you have any resolutions for March?

PS. Don't worry, I'm still going to find fabulous things on the internet, to share here... ;)

Read... 

Children are self-harming in Australian detention centres. It's pretty shocking stuff.

Relatedly, this recent vilification of asylum seekers is just appalling.

Beyonce memes used to respond to quotes from the Liberal Party Front Bench. Hilarious.

There are no three-way mirrors in Hollywood. On Seth McFarlane's Oscars performance.

Why do women hate Anne Hathaway but love Jennifer Lawrence? For the record, I love Anne. Probably because I've seen this video.

"If there's a Black History Month, why can't there be a White History Month?" Twitter decided it wasn't worth dignifying with an answer, and so instead this happened... 

Your lifestyle has already been designed. I am really, really feeling this right now! "Here in the West, a lifestyle of unnecessary spending has been deliberately cultivated..."

Are women 'allowed' to appreciate male beauty? "But it’s also entitlement. A straight man, if he’s going to be with someone at all, deserves to be with a woman he enjoys looking at. As for women? It’s not phrased as, women don’t deserve men they find good-looking. It’s more phrased as, female sexuality doesn’t work like that. It’s about getting to know a guy, and struggling to overcome whichever natural revulsion to intimacy."

Does 'gamine' work on people who aren't French? But actually a more nuanced discussion of the style.

10 movies that Oscar nominees would rather forget.

5 reasons girls type like 'thissss.' Ha ha! Veeeeery astute!

Miranda July interviews Lena Dunham. Girl love. 

Watch... 

Sarah Von from Yes and Yes does videos now! Don't you just want to be her best friend?

Sofia Coppola, photographed for The New York Times.

music: tegan and sara, closer

So I’ve mentioned before that Tegan and Sara’s Closer is probably my new favourite song of all time (for the next month or so, at least). I love how fun and upbeat it is, and the fact that it makes me dance around my bedroom. I love that it’s a little sexy. I love that it’s a little lovely.

I like that it’s about being really attracted to and wanting to sleep with someone – but also a song about how that doesn’t diminish or objectify the, well, object of your affections. I like that it’s a song about loving someone – but also (I feel) a song about spontaneity and lust existing within a very comfortable relationship. Two sides of the same coin.

Or am I just rambling, and reading too much into pop songs?

Anyway, what I may not have mentioned on this blog before, is how much I love the film clip for Closer. It basically exemplifies that feeling of going to a house party, and drinking to just the right side of too much, and literally and metaphorically dancing around someone you’re interested in all night long. Also, it features karaoke, so I was sucked in from the beginning.

But I discovered the other day that there is a ‘lyric video’ for the song as well, which I also love! The colours! The font! Geez, I am such a design nerd.




Below are some stills from the clip. 

The point of this post: that one of the greatest songs of all time (again: for the next month or so, at least) has two of the greatest video clips of all time. I strongly encourage you to listen to Closer at least five times on repeat.

Enjoy! 

giveaway: I give it a year

Ambitious Nat (Rose Byrne) and struggling novelist Josh (Rafe Spall) are a mismatched couple, who are deliriously happy despite the differences in their personalities. They get married quickly, and are convinced that they can make it work – but friends, family, and even the priest at their wedding are not so sure. As their one year anniversary approaches, and new temptations appear – in the form of Josh’s ex girlfriend Chloe (Anna Faris), and Nat’s handsome client Guy (Simon Baker) – they begin to wonder if everybody else might not have been right.

Based on widely-accepted old wive's tale / truth, that “the first year of marriage is the hardest”, I Give It A Year is similar to a few other offbeat, wannabe-edgy rom-coms to be released in recent years, like Bachelorette. It has salty humour, abrasiveness and audaciousness, in a genre template. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Rom-coms are mostly always enjoyable (unless they’re What Happens in Vegas), and I Give It A Year is more interesting and more enjoyable than most. With a solid supporting cast including the hilarious Anna Faris, the ruggedly good-looking Simon Baker (I’m not the only one who finds him outrageously attractive for no discernable reason, right?), and a return to the screen for Minnie Driver, I Give It A Year is worth giving a watch.

And guess what? The first three people to email me will go in the draw to win a double pass to see the film! Hop to it, you young hopefuls! 

melicious morsels 22.02.13

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This week I went out for a fancy dinner at the new Canberra restaurant Elk and Pea, which was delicious; had a day off work, and tried to hang out with almost every single person I know (and was mostly successful!), and bought neon pink glitter kicks. How was your week? xx

Read... 

Students are seeking out 'sugar daddies', to pay for their university fees.

Adrienne Rich on love, loss, creativity and happiness.

No one’s fated or doomed to love anyone.

The accidents happen, we’re not heroines,

they happen in our lives like car crashes,

books that change us, neighborhoods

we move into and come to love.

Tristan und Isolde is scarcely the story,

women at least should know the difference

between love and death. No poison cup,

no penance. Merely a notion that the tape-recorder

should have caught some ghost of us: that tape-recorder

not merely played but should have listened to us,

and could instruct those after us:

this we were, this is how we tried to love,

and these are the forces they had ranged against us,

and these are the forces we had ranged within us,

within us and against us, against us and within us.

What Girls and Shameless teach us about being 'broke' and being 'poor'.

Why Lena Dunham can be naked if she wants to be.

Also, Lena Dunham looks like me. I personally find it so reassuring to see her on television - as if the way I look has been validated. Obviously you (or rather, I) shouldn't need that validation, but it is like, 'Finally! The media acknowledges that people are sometimes pear-shaped! People sometimes have cellulite!'

Margaret and David programmed Rage, because they're bad ass.

It's not natural to work full-time. Thoughts? I like to keep busy... But it's also true that I like to keep busy with lots of different part-time projects. I like the variety.

What it's like to date somebody shorter than you.

Watch... 

You probably all know that I find any debate about hipster culture at worst incredibly unproductive, and at best quite irritating - but I thought this video was pretty funny.

Scientists in North Queensland are studying this rare (and super cute) dolphin breed.

Look at...

These adorable gender-swapped fairytale princes.

What it's like to be single, as told by Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Rebel Wilson.

Listen to...

This song is one of my dance-around-my-bedroom-like-a-maniac songs, and I never realised that Gotye was the drummer in this band!

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