btw, folks should also read Digby’s piece “Democrats Reach for the Shiny Object”
Melissa asked in an email the other day, “What would an ACT UP for abortion look like?”
It stuck with me, and she and I have talked about it a lot since. I’ve been watching protest movements around the world this year, from homegrown movements for the DREAM Act and DADT repeal, to the London…
OBAMA SUCKS! Down with the federal government! They are too involved in our lives and they need a strong governor who will stand up to them and tell them how it’s going to be. HA! Take THAT! That’s why we elected Mary Fallin because
“I think voters want a governor who sees the world…
HT to Sarah Jaffe (aka Champagnecandy — read her response) for this great post by Sadydoyle. I too share Sarah’s affection for Emma Frost and support her right to wear pants. I think X-Men scribe Kieron Gillen is going to do right by this complicated and sometimes pantless character.
Recent discussion has led us to consider the question of bondage-themed lady villains-turned-antiheroes-turned-sort-of-heroes in comics. Specifically, the question of one Emma Frost, she of the constantly-changing powers and/or moral and political affiliations and/or outfits.
And specifically, the question of Emma Frost’s pants.
Now: It is not in question that Emma Frost is awesome, and the best. IT IS NOT! But when she came to us, in the early ’80s, she had no pants. They were explicitly writing her as a dominatrix (and as a Catwoman rip, though no-one ever said it out loud), so, you know: Corset, scary boots, no pants. When she led Generation X, on the other hand, she had pants, as befits the headmistress of an Academy for Gifted Youngsters. Pants, one would think, were intended to signify her newfound moral rectitude. Sometimes, she even put a stylish white blazer on, over her corset! But as soon as Generation X disbanded, and she joined the X-Men proper? OH SHIT, WHERE’D HER PANTS GO? This is the origin of the costume you see above, which is very literally just pasties and set of underpants. And a cape, you know, so that the bad guys will take her seriously.
Anyway, in 2004, Whedon started writing her, and he openly said that he needed to change Emma’s costume to be less ridiculous. So she got pants. And a top that was, while still functionally a corset, and still revealing, not a pair of pasties. I appreciated that. But then (Sarah, I am NOT YELLING, I am merely TRACING THE EVOLUTION OF A POPULAR COMIC BOOK CHARACTER, vis-a-vis pants) Whedon left, and Emma took her pants to the laundromat, and she NEVER. PICKED. THEM. BACK. UP.
But, most importantly? Yes, that IS a nigh-photorealistic painting of a Jenna Jameson split beaver shot, with the White Queen pasties and underwear unrealistically painted over Emma’s tender portions. And yes, it WAS used as the cover for one of the “Emma Frost” issues, which is why I (and girls?) never read it. In that guy’s defense, though, he’s been locked in Stan Lee’s basement with nothing but a lone porn cassette to keep him company since 2002.
Hey now—I am in favor of Emma having pants. I was joking that a certain friend of mine is writing Emma these days and his Emma does indeed wear pants!
See?
Pants! Or as he would say, Trousers!
But, um, ridiculous boobs.
I will give the artist credit though— Emma Frost is one of the only super-heroines who would conceivably wear a bustier or halter-zip-up top (whatever that thing is). Most of the characters they put in hyper-sexualized clothes would never dress that way.
The great Martin Bosworth has just died.
Devastating news for the movement and for all of us who counted him as a friend. Martin was one of a kind. He was an incredibly effective and passionate communicator and educator around issues that don’t get enough notice in the blogosphere like consumer protections, corporate accountability, worker rights, predatory lending and of course comicbooks, D&D and other nerdery.
And he was a total sweetheart to boot.
He was a mensch. He was incredibly brave in discussing his medical issues and personal issues through a public policy lens. Martin never shied away from speaking his mind. He fought for civil, thoughtful and honest discourse. He didn’t backdown because someone challenged him but he didn’t get defensive either. He educated and explained his point of view and he genuinely listened to the other person’s opinion.
As Martin and I were frequently of the same opinion I’m proud to say that we frequently wrote to each other supporting each others work. I will miss that just as much as I’ll miss geeking out with him about the comics and sci-fi we both loved.
You can read Martin’s writings on the following websites:
http://twitter.com/martinboz (he really understood twitter & aced the new medium)
Scholars and Rouges (here) and (here)
I bragged about the pozole soup I made on twitter yesterday and I got some requests for the recipe I invented.
I’ve only made it once and there are some tweeks I’d like to make in the future. the ONLY issue I have with my current recipe is that while the soup is super flavorful the pork pieces are sort of bland. Would have been better to marinate them beforehand. But I came up with a stop-gap included below.
I’d consider this recipe healthy. There’s no broccoli or brown rice in it but it has veggies and is low fat.
Ingredients
1 standard size grocery store tray of “Pork Meat for Soup” on the lean side
1 large chicken breast (skin or no)
4 15 oz. cans of white Hominy/Pozole (it looks like this) (standard can size)
1 carton of low sodium chicken broth (I used Pacific brand)
1 3/4 cup of chopped onion (i used yellow)
1 red bell pepper diced
1 large dried chili pepper pod (mine was Arbol, but I think this would be even better with a hotter variety. If you don’t have Mexican groceries where you live <sad> you could just use more cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
4 large tomatillos, husked and diced (tomatillos are small, but basically you need 4 plum tomatoes worth of tomatillo for this)
1 avocado (optional but highly recommended)
small red radishes (ditto)
3 cloves garlic
oregano (I used dried)
cumin
fresh cilantro (optional)
1 bay leaf
salt
black pepper
- soak the dried chilli pod in water
- take the pork and chicken and chop them up smaller
- shake some cumin and salt all over the meat and put it aside
- dice up 1 3/4 cup onion
- take half of the chopped onion pile and all of the meat and put it in a huge pot.
- pour enough packaged low salt chicken broth to cover the meat and add a few cups of water
- cover pot and cook on medium/high temp
- let the water with meat in the pot boil than turn it down to a low roll
- start to saute the rest of the onion and chopped up garlic in a pan
- when it starts to get translucent throw the tomatillos and red peppers diced into the pan with it and saute till the onions and garlic are see-thru and the rest of the veggies are slightly soft
- throw the veggies in the soup pot
- at this point you may need to add more water or more chicken broth if the stuff is looking too thick. Keep an eye while you are cooking as you may have to continually keep adding water to keep the soup’s consistency. It’s supposed to be a thick soup but not a stew
- added a heaping table spoon of dried oregano
- chop or tare up the now smooshy formerly dried chilli pod and add that
- add 1 bay leaf
- let all that cook together for a while
- open the cans of hominey/pozole and dump them in a collander.
- run cold water over the contents of the cans to get the slime off
- add the cleaned hominey/pozole to the soup
give it a few minutes and taste
you’ll prob need more salt and you may want to add some more hot pepper or black pepper
garnish hot soup with cold slices of avocado and radishes. Cilantro if you like.
Now tell Lou Dobbs what you are eating and cackle maniacally. Ask him if he thinks you should be eating white bread and baloney instead.
