Todd's Top Ten Suggested but Obscure Aesthetic Pleasures:

10. repetition in music. hooks, choruses, basslines, grooves, anything.

9. people who can be funny instead of whiny when they complain.

8. that fat, blobby moon between the more glamorous "crescent" and full moon (called "gibbous").

7. not the foregrounds but the backgrounds in paintings--those miniature landscapes over a sitter's shoulder that you want to go walk in like in renaissance painting. or the simple landscapes in the illustrations of children's books.

6. bare trees, grey skies, pale dead grasses. purty.

5. the unpredictable gleams of feedback billy gibbons gets out of his guitar at the end of "La Grange" by choking way up on the pick.

4. non-magnificence in nature.

3. old sixties keyboards which make rock sound outerspace or candystriped, like in the B-52s, or the organ as used in blues, hard rock, or psychedelic rock, like Deep Purple, Pink Floyd or Steve Winwood in Traffic or on Voodoo Chile.

2. dirges, funeral marches, and other doomy, minor key music.

1. sunlight on anything.

Friday Squirrelblogging?

Continuing on the rodent theme, Russian villagers have reported roaming gangs of squirrels who descend on the inhabitants of their village and eat them. Now I have long warned on this blog that a squirrel is an aggressive and elusive foe, cagey and dangerous. Isn't it about time we dealt with this "grey menace"? First they bark at us from trees, then they eat the birdseed---then they come for the children.

"Manly" Feminism?

I am fascinated by the repetitions in the consensus or "stereotypical" view of feminism this journal assignment elicited. Though few said they believed the image was a true one, it is amazing how much power this image has come to hold. Does anyone really know anyone who fits this stereotype? Could this image be a reason women might hesitate to speak up about rights these days?

What images, attitudes and adjectives show up the most? You tell me.

• "When you say feminist, you have to accept that the first image popping into someone's head is a hairy-legged, man-hating vigilante."
• "the most politically visible feminists, are very aggressive and extremist in their actions. Many of them are very easily offended, very anti-men, and hostile."
• "the stereotypical feminist. The deranged bra burning lunatic."
• "stereotyped as these crazy man haters who bitch and moan and don't shave their legs."
• "today though, there are the extreme feminists that show so much aggression in getting what they want. They are offended easily and dislike men and their "evil" ways (lesbian? i think not)"
• "dike women who are all always advocating for women's rights and arguing about how they think everything is not fair. But we all know that this is not the true definition of a feminist"
• "Feminists today are viewed mostly as lesbian, a woman who is angry with the man's world, perhaps because she has been slighted by it. Feminism has unwittingly been subconciously affiliated with the gay and lesbian culture, which in and of itself is another major social controversy."
• "common caricature (sp?) of feminists as standoffish, bull-dyke type women yelling about how unfair life is"
• "strong feminists that hate men for being men"
• "radical, men haters that will fight to the death for women’s rights"
• "synonymous with complaining"

Then there were a handful of milder, positive (and more heterosexual-sounding) descriptions like this:

• "My idea of modern feminism may seem naively idealistic. Feminism brings to mind the civil rights movement of the sixties, in which minorities discovered their voices and fought for the rights they deserved. Women were doing the same in the sixties. Women came to realize that having a career wasn't such a bad thing, that they could be careerwomen and mother. This leads to the idea that a woman is capable of doing anything a man can. My mom has always emphasized the importance of fighting for my goals, no matter what anyone says. I would consider her a feminist in her own right. Yet, because of the negative stereotypes associated with feminism, women are hesitant to take on the label of 'feminist.'"

Could it be that women showing "manly" traits such as aggression, strength, assertiveness, and even "hairy legs" contribute to the aversion people feel toward feminism?

I'm just sayin'....

Rodent My Rodent...

Are you prepared for Ferretblogging?

Who are you calling a Feminist?

In this post, Ann Althouse recently called for feminists to critique sexism in the blog world, prompting this post by Echidne. While in my experience few students will raise their hands if you ask them if they are "feminists," the principle of equality between the sexes that "feminists" work for seems widely accepted.

This question is for my students: why do you think people hesitate to accept the label feminist? What is your impression of modern feminism? Anyone willing to accept the label? To start thinking about virtual rhetoric and online communities, the assignment for Paper Four, read the comments at Atrios's blog and at Kevin Drum's as well. How is this online political community reacting to or policing such speech? Is this an example of dysfunction or a healthy airing out of an issue of concern to many?

The comments are from the generally obstreperous Little Green Footballs site, but here is a sample.

Cowtipping debunked

If you grew up in Wisconsin, you definitely heard people bragging about having tipped over sleeping cows as part of a drunken night's fun. Science, however, has revealed this to be malarkey, whatever malarkey is...

Posted because I was excited to know what the hypoteneuse of a cow was!

**Late Update: "Malarkey," informed sources tell me, is a form of "bunkum." Nuff said!

Friday Poodleblogging

The red one is Milly. She is the kind of poodledog who is not ACTUALLY a poodle. The black one is Doodle (the Poodle), half chimp, half giant fruitbat, half giantkiller, half abject coward. Yes that's four halves. Thus poodles.