#musicmonday: Diamond Rings

Really, this should have been posted closer to halloween, but how could I pass it up? Spandex, and make-up and choreography (and basketball!), oh my!

Your Friday Awesome: Porpoises to the Rescue

Dick Van Dyke is 84-years-old and still surfs. Recently he decided to take a little nap on his surfboard (as you would) and when he woke up he couldn't see land:

"I started paddling with the swells and I started seeing fins swimming around me and I thought 'I'm dead!'"

Van Dyke was wrong. "They turned out to be porpoises," he said. "And they pushed me all the way to shore."

I'm guessing they were fans because he is already friends with these other aquatic mammals:



I really hope they sang Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious while they pushed him to shore.

Your Friday Awesome: Awesome Mom, Awesome Kid

This burned through the internet yesterday, but I think it bears sharing because it is simply an example of an awesome kid, his awesome mom, and her awesome parenting.

That adorable kid is Boo, he is five, he loves Scooby Doo, and for Halloween he wanted to go as Daphne. So his mom, Cop's Wife who blogs at Nerdy Apple Bottom, bought him a Daphne costume and let him wear it to preschool.

It is a once a heartbreaking tale of homophobic parents and a five year old who already seems to understand that wearing a skirt and wig as a costume will cause him to be judged. But more importantly it is an example of awesome parenting. Boo's mom supports her kid and stands up to the bullies for him, even if they are three feet taller and three decades older than him, and wrap their bullying in the guise of "concern."

And, as she so smartly argues:

If you think that me allowing my son to be a female character for Halloween is somehow going to ‘make’ him gay then you are an idiot. Firstly, what a ridiculous concept. Secondly, if my son is gay, OK. I will love him no less. Thirdly, I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off.

 Now, go read the whole thing.

Your Friday Awesome: Take Back Halloween!

It is no surprise that I am not a fan of the "what totally random person/place/thing can we make slutty/racist and manufacture cheaply to sell to shit-loads of people" trend that has become the theme of Halloween. Luckily, there is a group that supports our attempts to take Halloween back from the brink:

Take Back Halloween! is sponsored by the Real History Project, which doesn’t have a snappy motto but is considering “No, Men Did Not Invent Everything.”

Like I said: awesome.

The site gives you lots of examples of historical women rather than tired ethnic and gendered stereotypes.

Want to wear a beautiful kimono, but not be a geisha? How about the first person to write a novel, ever: Murasaki Shikib.

Want to be gorey? How about Lizzie Borden?

Want to be gorgeous and sexy without being infantilized? How about Rita Hayworth? Or Josephine Baker?

Oh, and eff this princess crap. Go straight to queen.

Though, due to my undergrad obsession with medieval women's writing, I am very tempted to go as Christine de Pizan, the first medieval woman to support herself through her writing. Oh, and she wrote The City of Ladies in the 14th century. That, my dears, takes some gusto.

Who is missing from their list?

#musicmonday: Manic Monday

This was totally my favorite song during third through 6th grade - during which time I was oblivious to this verse:

All of my nights why did my lover have to pick last night to get down (last night, last night)
Doesn't it matter that I have to feed the both of us, employment's down
He tells me in his bedroom voice:
"C'mon feal the noise" (ba ba ba baaaa)
Time, it goes so fast (when you're having fun).

Sexual liberation and the female breadwinner during a recession in a Top 40 hit. Awesomesauce

Also, 80's power-suits.

(ba ba ba baaaa)

Your Friday Awesome: Johnny Depp Helps 9 Year-old Stage a Mutiny

Beatrice Delap is officially the coolest girl in her school.



She wrote this letter to Johnny Depp Captain Jack Sparrow, and he showed up:

Captain Jack Sparrow, At Meridian Primary School, we are a bunch of budding young pirates and we were having a bit of trouble mutiny-ing against the teachers, and we'd love if you could come and help.

'Beatrice Delap, aged nine, a budding pirate.'

If only I had written to Edward Scissorhands...

#musicmonday: New Order

Seriously, how did I not post this earlier?