Did somebody say “Hot Off?”

July 26, 2008 at 5:24 pm | Posted in pop culture, teh funny, the forg, timesuck | 54 Comments

My darling, dear, confused friend BFP proposed what some might call the ultimate hot off:  my dear beloved JT versus… Saul Hudson AKA Slash.  From Guns and Roses.  (Erm, and Velvet Revolver.)

Avid readers, I ask:  Are you fucking kidding me?!

Prince Hotness 

or Prince Bad Hair Day?

Continue Reading Did somebody say “Hot Off?”…

Something’s missing…

July 22, 2008 at 6:06 pm | Posted in pop culture, the forg | 5 Comments

I’m seriously disappointed in my hometown paper for this totally boring and reductive review of The Dark Knight as some kind of fantastical rendering of how the world sees the US after 9/11.  And the reviewer has the nerve to try and pin a lack of imagination on Michael Caine!

 

It’s a broody, moody stew of urban chaos that catches and runs with a throwaway comment once made by actor Michael Caine (who reprises his role as Alfred, Batman’s servant and domestic savant). As he put it, Superman is how America sees itself and Batman is how the rest of the world sees America.

If so, and it has that clang of truth, then the world sees the States as a place where:

a) gangsters and terrorists hold cities in a grip of fear;

b) mayors and district attorneys are overwhelmed by the rising crime wave;

c) heroes and villains wear masks, and

d) the public isn’t told the truth.

A grim snapshot of America in the wake of 9/11?

Nolan asks the question in another way: Can the dark and stormy knight (Christian Bale’s Batman) defend Gotham City from Osama Bin Gene Simmons (Heath Ledger’s Joker)?

 

If you want to see this film and its predecessor, Batman Begins, through a post-9/11 lens, perhaps you should take a clue and a page from Susan Faludi’s latest, The Terror Dream.  (Or at least read the interview with her about the book in The Nation here.)  Both films explore the consequences of our culture’s hero complex — but while Batman Begins tries to pin down the origins of its hero, The Dark Knight rejects explanations and focuses on what might result if this masculine ideal were fully realized.  

Before I jump in there with the Men, though, can I just ask something?  In this gory and conflicted study of masculinity — where’s the other side?

Where the hell is Catwoman?*

More to come.

[*And I don't care if Maggie won the hot off -- I reluctantly say won because people still comment on there to say she's hotter -- this movie did nothing for her.]

Attention poets! (Call for submissions)

July 21, 2008 at 7:01 am | Posted in poetry, the forg | Leave a comment

I Can’t Be Your Girlfriend is a small journal of and about poetry by women that’s hand bound in Providence, RI. ICBYG publishes poetry of any length or stylistic format by woman-identified writers. While ICBYG does not publish traditional fiction or non-fiction writing at this time, I am open to the micro and the non-traditional.

I am interested in unusual, surprising cohesion and organization that deviates from traditional literary journal formats. I might even theme the first issue based on the submissions I receive. Please send poems (3-7 or whatever you see fit) in the body of an e-mail (or attached in a .doc or .pdf file) toicantbeyourgirlfriend@gmail.com. Introduce yourself in the friendly way you see fit.

ICBYG also prints reviews of new and old poetry books, chapbooks, and journals by women. Please send a query to icantbeyourgirlfriend@gmail.comalong with a clip or two of your own writing. I love small presses, strong voices, emotional intelligence, hand bound books, the old and rare, self-published anything, forgotten secrets… 

I also seek illustrations and ephemera for the first issue. Send an e-mail if you have an idea or would like to submit a high resolution image. 

Send all submissions by August 20th, 2008 (or so).

Regrettably, I cannot pay contributors at this time, but if the first issue goes well, I will actively search for funding. Contributors receive a complementary copy of the journal.

Finally, the fine ladies at Switchback Books in Chicago sum up ICBYG’s views on gender nicely when they write about their own press: “Our definition of ‘women’ is broad… It includes transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, and female-identified individuals.”

Thanks in advance for your interest, and I look forward to reading your work!

Claire Donato
Providence, RI
July 2008

http://icantbeyourgirlfriend.blogspot.com

Poetry Monday

July 21, 2008 at 7:00 am | Posted in poetry | Leave a comment

The Grackle on the Lawn

She wants the blossom.
She wants the seeds in the grass.

She wants the beautiful thing.
She wants to eat.

It’s so simple, she’s like a person.

She wants the beautiful thing.
She wants to eat.

She’s like a person, she wants to live
with that beautiful blossom and she wants to eat.

She flies off with the blossom in her beak.

– Eloise Klein Healy

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