sealed the deal on my Obama vote (as if there was any question)

But let's be clear: these issues - equal pay, work/family balance, childcare - these are by no means just women's issues. When a job doesn't offer family leave, that also hurts men who want to help care for a new baby or an ailing parent. When there's no affordable childcare or afterschool programs, that hurts children who wind up in second rate care, or spending afternoons alone in front of the TV. When women still make just 77 cents for every dollar men make - black and Latina women even less - that doesn't just hurt women, it hurts families who find themselves with less income, and have to work even harder just to get by.

So you'd think solving these problems would be one of our highest national priorities. But while some politicians in Washington make a lot of noise about family values, when it comes to what people actually need to support their families, and care for their families, and spend time with their families - they get awfully quiet, don't they? And year after year, it just gets harder for working parents - especially working women - to make a living while raising their kids.

We take it for granted that women are the backbone of our families, but we too often ignore the fact that women are also the backbone of our middle class. And we won't truly have an economy that puts the needs of the middle class first until we ensure that when it comes to pay and benefits at work, women are treated like the equal partners they are.

Oh hai you tube

I don't think I've talked about my ridiculously high girl crush on Ida No of Glass Candy in awhile. First time I saw them live (back when they were even more trannyesque with the Shattered Theatre) in...2000? I think I questioned my sexuality. Why? Because she'd wear these ridiculously small outfits like so:



In San Francisco GC played practically once a month so I could get my fix on the regular back then. Not in Chicago :(



When I first heard their remake of Kraftwerk's computer love I fainted.


Aaaand 3 hours of youtube clicking around later I've tripped down memory lane seeing old Lake of Dracula, Locust at Fireside (remember G2K at that one? wowzas), the 1999 version of at the drive-in (my first show at okayz was them and the freaking get-up kids how messed is that)...then of course those lead to watching sets from the michiganfests and columbusfests I went to.

You get Reversal of Man at michiganfest 2000, which is a historical study on screamo white guys doing the pony/bronco move. My fave part of their set was being on stage right just as the dude barfed all over it. Note the total sausage fest at this event. Remember when bands would talk all political before they played? What happened to that? Remember lyric sheets: "uh hey we have sheets of our lyrics and we'd love to talk to you about whats going on because some fucking shit is going on in this fucking world" (pre-9/11 no less!) Then people would stand around and read them and pretend to care?


Michiganfest 2002 - look close enough and you can see me and some other people you know...best to leave this type of drunken stupidity back in 2002.


And then I obviously wasn't at this as I was 12, but holy shit a 1993 Indian Summer show? YouTube u did that (again).


Which dumped me off at a 1996 Shotmaker show at a men's lodge. Do people still play at lodges? This was/is my fave shotmaker song. Too bad the vocals are MIA.


Remember when I like, really, really liked music? I think I can thank those 4 years of avant-garde noise shows for giving me a permanent burning music rash.

Today = Good Day

Dude who added this to youtube writes: The song I wake up to every morning, and on the weekends it offsets a blunt of Californias finest yadaimean?!! I miss California.

Been a good few days.

entertaining way to kill time

I'm in the middle of a "who can send each other the worst and gayest video of all time" (in the best sense of the word of course) war right now. I think I have the ultimate trump card with my tale. My dad waited in line for hours to meet Cher and get her autograph on a photo with the outfit she has on in this video. It is on his office desk. No Bryan Ferry dressed as a nazi singing love songs could ever top this tale.

The mother and the whore

Watch this:



(subtitles NSFW)

then multiply that time length by 26 and you've got what I did tonight. 215 minutes of Post-French New Wave Cinema with that dude (Jean-Pierre Léaud) from all the Godard and Truffaut films that are so horribly sexist. This movie was also so horribly sexist - the women were lifeless will-less beings while Jean-Pierre was a manipulative whiny fop. I think the worst part for me was that some of it was hitting a way too close to home in the "holy shit didn't I recently have this fight" way. Regardless, it was so nice to be at a film event with other people. I didn't feel painfully out of place like I have felt the past several months at music things. I felt comfortable, engaged, excited.

I made sure to not look at my watch because I knew if I checked then I'd probably get restless. It was really nice to see this with three people that know more about cinema combined than most film departments at an arts college know. Helped me get a better insight, but also helped me reconfirm that I'm not a total idiot when it comes to cinema.

When we left we saw one of the 'big' directors (Joe Swanberg) of the mumblecore genre, and giggled about how he was probably taking notes the entire time as this film is so obviously one of the birthing grounds of mumblecore.

Afterwards my 3 pals came over to consume some of the liquor that is still here from my party. We had a good time chatting and debating the rules of scrabble until I nearly had to kick them out because it is way past my bed time. And I get to do it all over again tomorrow with the Korine night. I love these people and I love seeing movies again.

Papa Legba come and open the gate

Ignore the random subtitles.

Can you guess what I did to stay occupied tonight? Is True Stories my version of cigarettes? Will I just watch movies I've seen 1,000 times to avoid all those stories in my head I've been wanting to write but am afraid to do because they will suck so hard?

My Mon-Fri in 80s theme song

Had a nasty fight with a richie rich aka my asshole landlord. Cursed his rich cheapass.



Found then lost then found again my new apartment. Praised karma for the first time in weeks.



Got excited for my new home sweet home, which I move into February 16th.

Spazz Nostalgia

I've been getting randomly music-nostalgic on Monday nights recently. I think it is because I'm pretty much guaranteed to be alone Monday nights. It's winter so nobody is going out, it's a Monday, and Nate has band practice. So I usually come home, clean up from the weekend and sit. There's never anything on TV and I get bored from reading more than half an hour. So I spend my evenings on youtube hunts for live sets I've seen, or on myspace digging up old bands. I'm all stuck on 90s hardcore bands lately. Tonight I spent time searching for michiganfest 2000 and 2002 and columbusfest 2000 and 2002 videos. Here's a few I found (man remember when I used to go to these things? and run wild and drink jugs of carlo rossi? who was I?):

Rye Coalition at MF 2002 (whose lead singer reminds me more and more of Ken from Freaks and Geeks):

(for fun, compare this to their set in 1995's Michigan Fest here. Man their old stuff was so great)

Small Brown Bike at MF 2000:
I forgot what a dudefest hardcore shit is. Dudes abound! Smelly dudes!


I can't find any more than music/columbusfest videos on YouTube, damn! I did find this guy whilst looking, who apparently has every 90s hardcore band ever videotaped (ok, a bit of an exaggeration). You know you wanna watch old Neil Perry, Clikatat, Shotmaker, etc videos!

Oh, to be young again!