XOXO It’s Anyband, bitch

I am pimping this blog out to you guys in hopes you will go and download all the awesome fan-made mixes there. They are the best Asian music vs. American mainstream mash-ups ever.

Seriously, don’t let either side deter you from trying anything. God knows I don’t love Britney Spears.

Even after watching the preview videos (you can watch them all here~) I wasn’t completely sold, but I was intrigued enough to download the “albums”. The full songs are so well-mixed. There are a lot of great dance tracks, as well as a few ballads and some pop/rock numbers thrown in.

My Favourites:

Before The Girlfriend (Crystal Kay vs. Avril Lavigne)
Gimme TPL (Anyband vs. Britney Spears)
I Kissed a Hot Go-Girl (Wonder Girls vs. Katy Perry vs. Lee Hyori & Natsun)
Hung Up Cinderella (Seo In Young vs. Madonna)(I would also recommend Seo’s Cinderella without the Madonna!)
Love Cry (Son Dam Bi vs. Justin Timberlake & T.I.)
Candy Like Me (Koda Kumi vs. Girlicious)

I bought a curling iron. What I really wanted was a hair straightener, but if I buy a straightener I want a nice one that won’t turn my hair to burnt toast, and that means a $100+ Chi, so instead I decided to embrace my natural waves and just go full-blown curly, saving myself $85+.

My top layer and fringe are kind of short right now (I got a hair cut last week), but someday I will attempt a style inspired by my favourite Gossip Girl, Blair Waldorf. Her hair is always flawless, her make-up always glowing and natural, and her clothes just scream “Look at me, I’m rich, trendy, and better than you!” Truly, she is my Monday night television hero. Thanks for bringing the headband back (and making it hotter than ever), Blair!

I want to hunt down some cute headbands for myself, but I should probably check to see if my financial aide went through like the school website is telling me before I go shopping. *sigh* If only I was Blair Waldorf, then I too could have $150 hair accessories.

Bear with me; I’m try to quell the urge to rip McCain signs from people’s lawns

Sharing this article. Politics, women’s issues, and Atwood, all tossed together by a super-smart Jezzie editor. And I do love The Handmaid’s Tale, in a makes-me-feel-stabby kind of way.

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“Dying Of Too Much Choice”: Sarah Palin And The Handmaid’s Tale

[...]

One nice thing about The Handmaid’s Tale is, like Sarah Palin’s resume, it’s a pretty quick read. Basically the US has become a Christian theocracy where piety is required and women are chattel. They can’t have property or jobs, and they are forced into arranged marriages or disturbing functional roles. A few become whores, and get to hang out at a brothel called Jezebel’s. Others are Handmaids, so called because of a story in Genesis. Pollution has made most people sterile, but Handmaids are still believed to be fertile. Their job is to live with rich couples and have sex with the husbands — while the wives lie on the bed with them — in hopes of conceiving a child. The narrator, Offred, is one such Handmaid, and her description of the “fertilization” process (”My red skirt is hitched up to my waist. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body”) probably stuck with you if you read the novel in high school, for its sheer awful dehumanization of sex. The Handmaids are told they are better off than women before the theocracy, who were “dying of too much choice.”

So, is this the kind of world Sarah Palin wants to usher us into? Well, sort of. The Christian Heritage Week she signed into law in Alaska sounds like a far milder version of the state-sanctioned Prayvaganzas. When a group of Handmaids-to-be chants “her fault, her fault, her fault” at a rape victim, I thought of women in Wasilla paying for their own rape kits on Palin’s watch. And of course there’s the reverence for childbearing that permeates the culture of The Handmaid’s Tale, from the gruesome displays of executed abortionists to the arranged marriages of girls as young as fourteen in order to “start them soon.” All this is reminiscent of Palin’s avowed pro-life stance, a stance so unswerving it’s hard to imagine her daughter could have gone against it.

But does Sarah Palin actually want the US to turn into a Handmaid’s-Tale-style police state? No more than any of us. She’s not against women holding jobs — she’s a working mother of five. Nor would she, if elected, force us all to attend Prayvaganzas or have sex with other people’s husbands.

However, a character named Serena Joy should offer a chilling cautionary tale to Palin and her ilk. Before the theocracy, Serena Joy was a popular televangelist, preaching about the need for women to return to the home. Afterwards, she does just that, and she is trapped in an arranged marriage with knitting and gardening as her only occupations. Atwood writes:

She doesn’t make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she’s been taken at her word.

Sarah Palin hasn’t been as anti-woman as someone like Ann Coulter, whose persistence in asking people to listen to her while telling them women are stupid is a mind-boggling exercise in doublethink. But Palin does want to deprive women of the right to decide what we do with our bodies. And as The Handmaid’s Tale shows, women who want to take power away from women should be careful what they wish for.

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And if you’re at all concerned about animal cruelty, you might find Palin promoting the slaughtering of wolves and bears of interest. But be forewarned, the video I’m linking contains footage of animals being shot. From a plane. When the animals have no place to hide. Because there is no “sport” in Palin’s sort of hunting, just violence.

Oh, and a sweet $150 bonus for each severed foreleg you hand over.

But I don’t expect any better from her, because no mayor in her right mind asks about banning the books she doesn’t like and then claims she was just testing the librarian. (FYI they banned books in The Handmaid’s Tale too.)

Since my original birthday wish might have been more than anyone is realistically capable of, instead let me urge you, if you have not registered to vote, please do so. There is not much time left to register, so please please please make it a priority.

I can’t tell you who to vote for, but I can tell you that your vote really does make a difference.

Also consider writing the Department of Health and Human Services via the Planned Parenthood petition here (or any of the petitions linked here or here or here or here) concerning the “conscience rule”.

You may never want an abortion, and god forbid you ever need one, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a choice. Doctors shouldn’t be allowed to withhold information and pharmacists shouldn’t be permitted to deny you medication because it goes against their personal beliefs.

Other articles also worth noting:
The Case Against Sarah Palin – a compilation of statements made by Palin
McCain (Palin) On Women’s Issues: When It’s Not Sparse, It’s Not Good

I’m a victim of cellphone theft. ;___;

It actually happened on Wednesday. After I was assaulted that morning by my mother’s boyfriend and fled the house without food, (yeah, I can’t believe this is my life either) I stopped to buy something to eat in the late afternoon and I left my phone either A. on the counter when I went to get a drink or B. in the public bathroom. I didn’t realize it was gone until Saturday; I thought I had just left it in another handbag.

Doesn’t matter really, because whoever picked it up has no intention of returning it. It’s a safe bet s/he is not the Good Samaritan type by the company s/he keeps. Because I called my own phone. And then I called everyone who my phone called in the past couple days that I definitely did not call. And each time I felt I would have had better luck if I were asking for crack or pilfered car parts.

Actually, the fact that someone has stolen my phone, been listening to my voice mail, and has used up nearly all of my minutes calling and texting people doesn’t bother me. I mean, the phone looks nice, but it wasn’t super-expensive and it barely has any features. No camera or mp3 ringtones for Thiefy McStickyFingers to enjoy (though I did spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to program in a “Rainbow” midi which I’m sure s/he won’t appreciate).

It sucks, but I can replace the phone, no biggy. But I can’t replace my red tartan phone strap from Ayu’s Countdown Live 2007-2008 10th Anniversary concert. And that hurts. Not only is it Ayu’s cutest phone strap to date, but it marks Ayu’s first concert celebrating 10 years in the music industry and her last concert before confessing she permanently lost all hearing in her left ear. I even got the plaid shopping bag to match. T-T

there’s always room for awesomesauce

Five minutes till midnight and my shitty day turned into a something-close-to-but-not-exceeding good one.

Liz found my estranged cousin Ashley (one of the few family members I met in my youth that didn’t make me think I was mistakenly dropped on Earth by a more intelligent alien race to which I belonged) at a Redner’s market. She confirmed to Liz what I always knew: I was totally my grandma’s favourite. XD

I can’t keep “It’s a small world after all~” from playing in my head.

AND. I just read: 4 minute Twilight trailer July 15th.

Hells. Yeah.

AND. Goya-Champuru was a really good movie. I like hopeful-but-don’t-spell-it-all-out-for-you endings.

One more week, one more essay, one more exam…

I am in the grip of academic uncertainty. Even more perturbing — I actually care!

I finished my sucktastic research paper (that I survived only by the grace of God — a box of midol, many cups of tea, and an extension). Having the paper printed and packed neatly in a folder, I thought my biggest worry could resume being who will win Top Chef next week.

But when I went to drop off my essay yesterday, the building doors were locked. Work, plus some traffic caused by a World War II reenactment (WTF?), made me late. Everyone was gone for the weekend.

And to prove that my gravitation towards failure is not solely the consequence of my own self-damning behavior, Fate herself enlisted the aid of an excited weekend speeder to smite me on the way to campus. That is, I was almost squished by a careless SUV. I actually didn’t realize how close I came to road-pancake status until I was told, “He almost killed you!” and given smiley-faced fries to ease my trauma.

I like to believe I would have survived and lived sweet off my lawsuit money.

Actually, I’m pretty sure the time I almost got hit by a car in Phoenix (my fault, I sprinted across 4 lanes so I wouldn’t miss the earlier bus to school — the car was so close and moving so fast that it hit my purse and the passing momentum nearly knocked me off my feet) and the incident while walking home with Ambur in middle school (driver’s fault — that bastard ran a red light and then ran over the tip of my shoe!) were much closer calls. No wonder Fate has it out for me. I’m tempting! (Probably pissed I made that bus too.)

Anyway, I emailed my paper but I’m not sure if it will be accepted and I may not find out until Monday afternoon. (This means I still have to write that last essay, though it may be for nothing.)

But onto better things:

J.K. Rowling’s commencement speech at Harvard: “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination” If I quoted all my favourite lines I’d be quoting most of the speech.

And Neil Gaiman posted this link in his blog. 10 stories from the China Earthquake told through a series of comic strips by Coco Wang.

painted by numbers.

Today was so fun. I wasn’t originally scheduled to work, but Renate offered me the tail end of her shift so I could hang out with Jessie on her last work day before she leaves for bootcamp. She and Erin were kind enough to wait around an extra half an hour afterwards so I could have dinner with them, and even though it was her special day, Jessie treated us. How awesome! I was so excited to be out with them, I felt a little childish. But Erin and I agreed, I need more friends who aren’t assholes and a best friend that has her shit together.

More friends who make me feel like I’m worth waiting thirty minutes for? Yes, plz.

Hopefully we’ll all be having dinner at Renate’s before Jessie ships out for the Navy. And hopefully Renate will let me help her in the kitchen again. Her food is unbelievable!

A lot of co-workers want to see Sex and the City, but I am eagerly awaiting The Happening. I love (intelligently crafted) scary movies and I love M. Night Shyamalan movies. It’s win-win!

The Problem: I think most of my friends have taken a “NO SCARY MOVIES!” stance. Come on, you guys! A little fear is good for you!

There is no such thing as Good Country People

I’m trying to work on my research paper. I didn’t complete the first major assignment, so it is necessary that this final assignment be done and be done well.

The weather is nice today, so my room is like an oven. Too hot to be productive in. And my desk is too small for my task anyway.

So, I move my large stack of reference books, my pile of photocopies of literary criticism, my bundle of blank notecards, and a handful of pens, highlighters, and pencils into the downstairs dinning-room.

I take Jasper outside and wear him out so he’ll sit quietly while I work and not cry for attention. I get us both a cold drink.

I do all this and I’m ready to be productive! But. Outside I can hear people debating over the cost and amount of blocks needed to finish construction of a new wall and porch. Upstairs Jared playing War on Xbox Live, the volume so loud that sitting an entire floor away is the equivalent of sitting in the first row at an IMAX. And even over the sound of guns I can hear his usual commentary, “Come on.” “Fuck you.” “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I open one of my Ibsen books anyway and begin reading. I get so far as “There was no biographical information even available in English until–” and he’s downstairs eating all things noisy and crunchy and turning the TV on, then turning it up to compete with the farm equipment outside.

I’m going to scream.

Come on. Fuck you. You’ve got to be kidding me.

Fortitude

I’m reading Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. And I swear, I had no idea it was “classic gay fiction” when I started reading it. (Though, if someone had told me, I might have read it sooner~) Sure, their relationship is destructive and akin to a trainwreck (because the narrator is an idiot), but it’s a good read nonetheless.

And every time I pause at a passage that I think I’d like to jot down, I see someone else has already dog-eared the page.

For I am — or I was — one of those people who pride themselves on their willpower, on their ability to make a decision and carry it through. This virtue, like most virtues, is ambiguity itself. People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists in self-deception. Their decisions are not really decisions at all — a real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things than can be named — but elaborate systems of evasion, of illusion, designed to make themselves and the world appear to be what they are and the world are not.

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‘Somebody,’ said Jacques, ‘your father or mine, should have told us that not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour — and in the oddest of places! — for the lack of it.’

If you’re bored and have or have not been following Chinese news, the heart-rending story of Chen Jian might be worth reading/watching.

The season finale of House seems to get sadder every season.

Sichuan, China

I was going to write a rant-post about Cassandra Clare, but decidedly, this is probably more meaningful.

I know I just mentioned this yesterday, but the 10,000 dead I noted has risen to around 17,000 with another approximately 60,000 people, both Chinese and foreign, still unaccounted for.

China was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale with aftershocks over 5.0. One the affected places of interest has been Juyuan Middle School where 30 students out of 300 have since been removed from the rubble they were trapped under when the center of the school fell. (Xinjian Primary School at Dujiangyan has also collapsed. The scene there is about the same.) Remember China’s One Child Policy. Many parents have lost their only child.

“The scenes of destruction and devastation are growing worse by the day in earthquake-hit China. Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan is in Beichuan, one of the areas hardest hit by the quake.” (Fair warning: Al Jazeera do film the dead. As rude as it may be, it’s not graphic.)

I think events like this, loss like this, help me put events that I thought were devastating in perspective. It’s easier to see selfishness and greed in yourself and in other people.

But I also feel frustrated and utterly useless when faced with such things. In the grand scheme of the world, I feel like I should be doing something more. It’s like an itch I don’t know how to scratch and it’s probably only me (being the weird person that I am), but I’ve always felt this way. I really, truly wish I lived for some greater purpose and could help people beyond the realm of “being a friend”.

Expatriate

I finished my latest Lit assignment by the skin of my teeth. In the realm of ironic, the professor I was doing the essay for happened to be just around the corner from the computer I was vigorously writing my last minute paper on. And whatever n00b used Gmail on the PC before me failed to log out. Kenny’s inbox was full of links to Naruto fanvids on YouTube. For those that don’t use Gmail, it displays approximately the first line of each email after the subject; I did not open his mail. I’m not that evil.

But I did leave him a message in his Drafts folder. (^.^)

I was doing research for my creative writing assignment, flipping through the Sinosplice blog archives, when I discovered Austin Kleon’s blackout poetry. My favourite:

I feel a little guilty having just submitted poetry involving natural disaster in China only to discover they suffered a serious earthquake today. Over 10,000 dead and thousands more trapped beneath rubble. And looking very creepy and plague-like, thousands of toads abandoned their oxygen-deprived river and flooded the streets. This is all on top of the HFMD outbreak.

As far as building stability and health goes, I guess Japan is preferable, but I’d still love to study at the Beijing Language and Culture University.

I finished Stephenie Meyer’s new novel The Host last week. I can’t remember if Steph M. ever revealed the length of the book before its release, but for some reason I was not expecting it to be so massive. The weight of it surprised me, I almost dropped it while sneaking a copy off the bookseller’s cart Tuesday morning.

Late Thursday night I was on page two-thirty-something when I peeled the Barnes&Noble 40% Off sticker from the cover and stuck it inside, not even half-way through the novel, as a marker. I thought, “I’m going to bed. I can read in the morning… But let me just skim ahead a second to see…” 6AM the sticker was still poking out the middle of the book, but I was finished.

Oops.

That said, I liked it. There were a few parts that dragged and I didn’t find it as good (or as quotable) as Twilight, but Steph M. is nothing if not a great storyteller.

There’s also Stephenie Meyer in another Borders Media chat, this time talking about The Host with the Arizona desert, the setting for much of the novel, as the backdrop. Is it possible to feel homesick for a place you only lived for six months, because I do. Right now, I miss Phoenix a lot.