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russian stuff
A psychedelic house of Russian blacksmith in a Russian village near Yekaterinburg city. They say the blacksmith himself has already passed away and his wife gets offers to sell it regularly but she denies them. via
Russian sausage art
Regina Spektor
Last night I had the great pleasure of seeing Regina Spektor live at Radio City Music hall. Born in Moscow, raised in NYC, this woman is a brilliant musician and songwriter. I am in awe.
Regina Spektor Interview
Robert Brink
Yeah, but what I noticed in reading, what stands out the most to me is the comparisons
writers have compared you to the likes of Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Billie Holliday, Joni Mitchell, Bjork, Susanne Vega, Kate Bush, Norah Jones and on and on, but it seems everyone needs to compare you to someone else in order to explain you
I know and the weird thing is I don’t think Kate Bush sounds like Billie Holliday. I used to get really upset about it and then I had one show, one of my early shows at Sidewalk Cafè, and after the show, different people came up to me at different times and I counted about seven different women that I got compared to. One person would be like, “You sound so much like Joni Mitchell.” And another would say, “Wow you sound so much like Janis Joplin.” And in my mind I’d be like “What?! Those people don’t even sound like one another. Where do Nina Simone and Tori Amos come in together, ya know?
Other than it being a female with a good voice and maybe a guitar or piano
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Do you think maybe it happens more to women? Because there’s lots of guys with guitars but you don’t hear Jeff Buckley getting compared to Kurt Cobain just because they are both guys with guitars. But with a woman its like “Oh female voice” and they just throw out a name.
…I remember listening to a marketing meeting once and I heard someone say “We couldn’t place this female on the radio right now because there’s another female in the top 10 already. So if you really pay attention to what’s being played, there’s a lot less females—especially songwriters. And a lot of the ones that are there are like, somebody featuring somebody—like a man featuring Beyonce, or a man featuring Ashanti or something like that.
…I understand people’s need to classify. I mean, that’s what humanity is built on. We’ll walk into a new territory and discover a new flower and give it like a seven name Latin title, ya know? And the little flower is like “I’m just a pink with blue spots little flower! And nobody else is like me!” But they totally need to classify and explain.
Maybe it’s just trying to find a comfort zone and a familiarity
Yeah, but also I feel like it makes people not even see the excitement about being themselves. Its like “What do you sound like?” And you are really proud of it and you say “Myself!” Obviously it should be a given that you are influenced by lots of things. I mean, who the hell isn’t? And if you aren’t influenced by a lot of things, you’re just dumb. Because that’s the greatest gift we have—the amount of great art in the world that’s never going to run out anytime soon.
re: vintage sexism
vintage sexism
It really is wonderful that Diane Sawyer will be inheriting the ABC evening news desk of Charlie Gibson. Especially in light of our sexist “past.”
This gem is from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine, written for male supervisors of women during World War II. These were “helpful tips” on supervising women at work.
1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they’re less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy.It’s always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.
3. General experience indicates that “husky” girls – those who are just a little on the heavy side – are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination – one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.
5. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.
6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they’ll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.
7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.
8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.
9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can’t shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman – it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.
10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl’s husband or father may swear vociferously, she’ll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.
11. Get enough size variety in operator’s uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can’t be stressed too much in keeping women happy.”
yay, corbin bleu
and his dad!
Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith – Oct 12th, 2009
Twenty-year-old “High School Musical” cutie Corbin Bleu is more than glad that his character’s family in his new “Free Style” movie is biracial, just like his own family. He made a point of seeing to it that casting was done that way.
He tells us that, with himself and his father two of the producers on the feature, opening tomorrow (10/9), “It was one thing we definitely wanted to play to. So many times in films, you’ll have interracial kids, but they’ll still have two black parents. At this time, right now, where we are now, you’re seeing many more interracial families. So many people are mixing and it’s wonderful and that needs to be portrayed more in our films.”
Corbin notes that, being a producer, “This is the first time I got to take hold of some of the reins and I’d like to do more. I was involved in locations and casting and wardrobe and all that.”
Synopsis: (via)
In the film, Bleu takes center stage as Cale Bryant, a biracial, Pacific Northwest teen whose father left his mom, Jeanette (Penelope Ann Miller), years ago when Cale’s young sister Bailey (Madison Pettis) was born. Regardless, Cale’s a polite, well-raised young man who, when not busy at the electronics store, delivers pizzas, takes care of sis while Mom waitresses, and races alongside his bud Justin (Jesse Moss), dreaming of turning pro.
Cale briefly gets angry with his mom, who turns out to have known the whereabouts of the kids’ deserter dad (David Reivers, Bleu’s real-life father and a producer of this film), and suffers taunts from rich-boy rider Derek (Matt Bellefleur).
mupcakes
i admit it
While I’m on the topic of childhood fun, I’d like to take this time to admit to you all that I still watch Sesame Street sometimes. Most recently, I’ve been watching in lieu of Good Morning America. I was so saddened by the news that Diane Sawyer will be leaving GMA, that I jumped ship before she did. There’s no team like Diane and Robin in the morning. Honestly, I don’t know why she is doing this to us. I understand that it’s a big deal for a woman to anchor network nightly news, and I’m happy for her to have gotten the offer…. but to ACCEPT it!? Mornings will never be the same.
I digress. Now, I don’t have the attention span to watch an entire Sesame Street, but I do like to check in and can be certain that it will make me smile. I know I already went on and on about how much I love Jim Henson and all of his creative contributions to society. It’s definitely the Henson characters that pull me in to the show. I’ve noticed that as soon as they cut away to clips of “real life,” I tune out. Groups of kids playing games, learning things, making crafts just doesn’t do it for me. Never did. Looking back I think this reflects the social anxiety I suffered from as a child. I was good one on one. I was good using my imagination and pretending to be something other than I was. But “threaten” me with a group of kids, and the butterflies in my stomach would begin to flutter like crazy. That’s something I realized about myself while recently watching Sesame Street. I’m sure it has something to do with the biracial.
mulatto diaries 