Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Walking Dead: In This Metaphor the Barn is a Womb and Hershel is the GOP? by Alex Snider

Guys! Guys. In a half-season of nothing, so much happened this episode, so many pointless things learned! The episode opened real strong like, with a lot of looking and head-shaking and looking and nodding. Emmys for everyone! Daryl and Carol didn't bone but they probably will have sad sex soon (it's one of the Kubler-Ross stages). Maggie must still be on her period because, man, mood-swings! T-Dog (or is it T-Bone?) had a line! Glenn discovered the benefits of washing hair with raw egg (so silky, so shiny). Hershel is a mouth breather when he eats (I bet he breathes really loudly on the phone too. He really is the worst). Dale is maybe omnipresent? No abortion metaphor is too big for the writers (barn=womb, zombies=fetuses, Shane=crazed coat-hanger wielding feminist). Those life-guard thingys that are used to fish poops out of pools are also strong enough to wrangle zombies. Rick's Sheriff hat has magical powers to turn Carl into an annoying mini-Rick who feels empowered enough to lay down the law (pun definitely intended). Shane's forehead vein is thisclose to getting it's own spin-off show. Oh and they found Sophia. And there was great rejoicing. Yay.

Friday, November 25, 2011

"We Have to Address That the Basic Rights of These Community Members are Being Denied" by Alex Snider

"The greatest resource that we have in the North is not the oil sands, it's not the diamond mines, it's not the copper mines, it's the children who come from these reserves." Holy smokes. This. 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Walking Dead: Boring Barn Zombies are Boring by Alex Snider

Another week, another notch in the ole’ patriarchy belt. Everyone got all up in Lori’s grill about her pregnancy, whether getting all mean girls about her weight (Glenn) or I dunno, being extremely anti-choice. Even the guy who wears a Hawaiian shirt and drives an RV and should be played by Randy Quaid weighed in on how during the zombie apocalypse she would bring down the survival chances of the Apple Dumpling Gang even more by keeping the baby. Gah.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Groupon Facebook Ad or Derek's Profile Picture? by Alex Snider

Groupon and our BFF&E Derek have a lot in common, well one thing in common: they both have an amazing ability to find incredibly disturbing and/or hilarious photos in order to foist them on unsuspecting potential customers (Groupon) and friends (Derek). It's impressive. Pop quiz! Can you guess which of the following are pictures from the Groupon ads and which are from our friend's Facebook profile? THERE IS NO ANSWER KEY. Because there are no winners or losers. Totally kidding, the answers are at the bottom.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

'Riel Talk': An Original Jam by Alex Snider

Rebekah and I love R Kelly's unsung masterpiece Real Talk. Like know-all-the-lyrics love. We also love word-play and Louis Riel. Put the three together and you've got Riel Talk, the one-sided conversation between Riel and John A MacDonald during the Red River Resistance of 1870. (Let's call it a resistance and not a rebellion because language matters and the people of Red River were not rebelling against the Canadian government as they were not actually a part of Canada at that point; they were resisting.)


Must Read Article of the Day Posted by Alex Snider

Oh man, this is an incredibly heartbreaking: The story of Tayshana Murphy, Chicken to all who knew her, basketball superstar, ranked the nation's 16th best point-guard in her class on the ESPN website, murdered on September 11th this year during run-in between rival project gangs. She wrote poetry and danced and wanted to play in the NBA and she was just 18 years old. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Are You Listening To 'A Tribe Called Red' Yet? by Alex Snider

You should definitely be listening to A Tribe Called Red. They are Bear Witness, DeeJay Shub and DeeJay NDN, three Aboriginal dudes from Ottawa. Their sound is dubstep meets club meets Pow Wow drumming and singing meets hip-hop with even a little dancehall thrown in to create their signature brand of "Pow Wow Step". And their videos are awesome and full of subversive cleverness. And they've remixed Diplo! And they've got a show in Toronto on Friday!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Everything That is Wrong With Zooey Deschanel's Public Persona by Alex Snider

Conversation I had with my mum last night:

Walking Dead: Cherokee Rose by Alex Snider

Has there ever been a group of survivors in an apocalyptic drama that deserve to live less than those of Walking Dead? Oh man, It's like not a single one of them ever played the "what would you do to survive the zombie apocalypse" game (the next best game to "what would you spend your lottery winnings on"). More over, it's like not a single one of them has ever had to deal with a zombie to date, as if so far they've had no experience with them what so ever. I mean aside from Maggie who has apparently never seen a zombie killed up close? (Seriously, Maggie? Where is this magical farm? the set of Lost? And how was T-Bone smashing its head in that much worse than its splitting apart at the middle?) Walk around the woods at night? Yeah sure! Dangle Glenn in to a well for some unknown reason to fetch a zombie? Why not! Have a gun-free zone which incidentally is where we're all living? Sounds like the best plan of all time! At this point I think the survivors are actually all zombies themselves given their inability to think coherently.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

3 Things I Am Thankful For Right Now by Rebekah Hakkenberg


3. Slavoj Žižek

Blue Collar/White Wash by Rebekah Hakkenberg

1953 Dickies Mens Pants Blue Collar Uniform Fashion Clothing Menswear Illustration Vintage Advertisement 1950s
I am a sucker for any sort of analysis/deconstruction of fashion trends through the lens of its social/economic/historical context, and this piece by Nathan Cardon for The Toronto Standard is no exception: