WeatherGirl’s Station

I haven’t blogged on these events till now because it seemed to me that so many had lost their heads for some unaccountable reason that they were bound to come to and renounce their support for Roman Polanski. Looks like that was wishful thinking. *sheesh* Every time I hear of a new celeb/actor/who-ever signing up with the Polanski Pity Party I have a serious WTF moment and try and think of reasons why. I have a list, which I won’t be including here because,

WTF!!!!!!!!!!

why does, ‘admitting to raping a thirteen year old girl when you were a middle-aged man and fleeing sentencing thirty odd years ago’ result in you being the victim and in need of support and assistance?

Here are a few links to commentary with which I agree and is waaaaaay more articulate than I.

Jay Smooth sums it all up nicely.

Kathe Pollitt’s article in The Nation: Roman Polanski Has a Lot of Friends

A post linking to Kate Harding’s posts on the issue.

Jill Psmith, the blogger formerly known as Twisty Faster, has her finger on the pulse: Yet another reason celebrities should be spurned by polite society until they can learn to stop doing stupid shit.

Hell, even a guy like John Naughton gets it.

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At Shapely Prose there is an article, Schrödinger’s Rapist: or a guy’s guide to approaching strange women without being maced, written by guest blogger Starling, that has much that is right on the money and should be read far and wide. The sentences that particularly pinged for me are:

Because a man who ignores a woman’s NO in a non-sexual setting is more likely to ignore NO in a sexual setting, as well.

So if you speak to a woman who is otherwise occupied, you’re sending a subtle message. It is that your desire to interact trumps her right to be left alone. If you pursue a conversation when she’s tried to cut it off, you send a message. It is that your desire to speak trumps her right to be left alone. And each of those messages indicates that you believe your desires are a legitimate reason to override her rights.

This may seem such a small thing but it is the crux of so much, granting as much respect for others as one holds for oneself is essential if one wants to be a decent human being. Unfortunately so many still seem to find it necessary to divide the world into “us” and “them” in order to define their own worth.

In the comment thread on this Shapely Prose post I also learnt of UMASS Boston professor, David Lisak, who has done research on the “undetected rapist.” This rape fact sheet he has put together is quite illuminating and well worth reading. Some of the facts may surprise you.

For a detailed description of rape culture check out Rape Culture 101 at Shakesville. Seeing the litany of elements that are rape culture linked together in one post just blows my mind.

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The Beeb has finally sorted out the rights issues for Desert Island Discs so it is now available on the iplayer. *does happy dance* The only way to listen up to now has been live and I was not up for getting up around 5am on a Sunday. Big hussar to who ever fixed the problem, I appreciate the opportunity to listen.

Tomorrow’s episode looks particularly interesting with Ellen MacArthur.

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This group was the first of this year’s Performing Arts series at the U. What a spectacularly great time. Being good Minnesotans we danced spectacularly well in our chairs! The music was wonderful even if we did not understand a word of it.

Check out the group’s web page here. They are from Nova Scotia, Canada and their name refers to the expulsion of the Acadians from the Canadian maritime provinces in 1775. The music they played was reminiscent of a lot of other Celtic traditions and their step dancing left us breathless!

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… but will anyone listen?

Sexual assault prevention tips guaranteed to work!

Maybe this should be posted in their bathrooms?

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This is so much fun!

You can find out more at the web page Where the Hell is Matt?

From Matt’s FAQ.

Why is the world so screwed up?

Men.

How do we fix it?

Women.

Right on!

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Sweet. It’s not often these days that a movie is made with younger children in mind. This is such a movie and very pretty it is too, which is not surprising given that it is the Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki at work. While it did get a little preachy in places and Liam Neeson’s character was a mite annoying, the visual representations of the sea and its inhabitants was spectacular. Definitely worth seeing even if you don’t have little ones.

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… where in I run for the hills, metaphorically speaking.

There are times when I wonder if certain US citizens think that it’s okay for them to lie, and cheat, and steal, because they think that they are God’s chosen people and that this absolves them from telling the truth and behaving like decent human beings.

The US healthcare debate is one of those times.

The levels of dishonesty regarding the delivery of healthcare in the rest of the world and what is going on in their own country (to their families, friends and neighbours) has reach epic levels of fail. I find myself incapable of stomaching the media coverage because there are so few people who seem capable of saying, “That’s not true,” or “Where did you get that mis-information from?” or even a simple, “Huh?”

When the sanest commentator and interviewer on the issue is Jon Stewart of the Daily Show on the Comedy Channel you know that we’re living in an alternate universe where lies are the truth, propaganda is reason and Big Media is laughing all the way to the bank, counting the millions of dollars that it’s being paid by the healthcare industry and its co-conspirators.

A Story of Violent Faith. By Jon Krakauer. This story reinforces my avoidance of organised religion. Any belief system that asks me to suspend rational thought and treats whole categories of human beings as less than or other, is not something I wish to embrace or promote. I wonder how many other, older, religions have such unsteady footings in their origins. Krakauer writes with an informed and accessible style and I highly recommend this book. (I’ve also read Into The Wild and Into Thin Air.)

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Underwhelms. So, yeah, there are lots of explosions and action and speed but as a whole I was not wowed in the slightest. Where was the sharp snarky script? The super scary evil evol villan planning world domination? Or the hot half naked men? *sigh* The script was so blah and limp, I was not surprised to see it was written by committee. Channing Tatum did not do a thing for me and had zero rapport with Marlon Wayons which led to a queasiness about how their relationship was being portrayed.

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