Chaos Theory

The annotated "Accidental Racist."

Oh, this is fun: click on the links for popups.

"Due to the context of the song, one can assume that the man waiting on Mr. Paisley was an African-American. As awkward as this song is, just imagine Brad’s ballad to the gay baristas, instead."

Note: Brad Paisley is from West Virginia, who quit Virginia over this war and was NOT Confederate. Yes, good point, annotation people.

A rundown of the Supremes

I...guess that covers it...

caught between southern pride and southern blame

So Brad Paisley and L.L. Cool J. did a song about racial stuff going on in the South in this day and age. I...am not sure what to make of it. Some of it sounds like he's trying, darn it. Other stuff, well, everyone's just gonna get mad.

Sigh.

On Brad's side, it's kinda like "Can't I be country without your assuming I hate y'all? I can't change the past." Well, true. But as L.L. points out, looking at the country hat and the flag, ah...makes people think of the bad stuff. Can we separate the two? Even 150+ years later?

I suspect the answer to that is no in our culture. But thanks for trying to discuss it, I guess?

Ebert's last review

To The Wonder.

If you're a woman, your primary features in your obit should be being a mom and making the din-dins

"Oh yes, by the way, Number One Mom Yvonne Brill, Preparer of Divine Beef Stroganoff, Cleaner of Messy Diapers, also invented a little system that helped make satellites work. It's nothing, really, just the industry standard."

Someone in the comments mentioned the Finkbeiner Test, i.e. the Bechdel for profiles on female scientists.

To pass, a story cannot mention:

• The fact that she’s a woman
• Her husband’s job
• Her child-care arrangements
• How she nurtures her underlings
• How she was taken aback by the competitiveness in her field
• How she’s such a role model for other women
• How she’s the “first woman to…”

 Or you could just start asking men about their domestic arrangements as well.

bwahahahah

What happens when you translate Willie Nelson into a gay marriage logo.

Other interpretations.

"Jon Hamm is being treated like an actress. He hates it."

"What makes Hamm different from, say, Anne Hathaway, who had to weather discussion about the appearance of her nipples in her Academy Awards dress, is that Hamm isn’t used to being objectified. He has outrage left to burn, rather than being exhausted by endless appearance-based prying and insane body standards."

 

Lottery winnings for all

Hey, my coworkers who play the lottery? LET ME IN ON THIS IF IT HAPPENS!

Watch the dominoes fall

Limbaugh caves, and check the courage meter. (Salon)

And then there's this guy:

"Corey Braun, the owner of a Rancho Cucamonga Chick-fil-A, handed out coupons for free chicken to dozens of marriage equality supporters at a California rally this week, breaking with the company’s national profile as a corporate opponent of gay marriage.

“There were a lot of things said over the past year,” Braun told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. “I wanted to show that Chick-fil-A doesn’t discriminate against anybody. We serve everyone. We’re happy to serve the community and this was an opportunity to have this group come in and show them our hospitality regardless of their beliefs, sexual orientation, or whatever. ” Adding: “Chick-fil-A has never been about hate.”

Taylor Swift Can’t Be the Voice (or Even a Voice) of a Generation

Good points.