What do the Toxic Titties and Jessica Zafra have in common?

I am fascinated by performance artists and I’m not talking about dancers, singers, actors you find in the local television.

The Toxic Titties captured my attention, they are a feminist group in California.

Toxic Titties is a collaborative group of feminist artists working with performance, video, and film, bringing a subcultural phenomenon into the frame of conceptual art. Using pleasure and play, the group mutates with each performance to include a multiplicity of participants and embody queer perversions of cultural ideals. Through failure and excess, Toxic Titties simultaneously invokes and destabilizes collective identity formations. 

What do we want?
Freedom! Power! Money! Respect! Pleasure! Representation! Sex! Indeterminacy! Revolution!
When do we want it?
NOW!

I am not a fan of simply rallying on the streets with raging fists in the air, stomping feet on the pavement and lung-out shouting for the audience or bystanders to get the message. I believe we can send the message in ways that won’t really need throats and lungs to exit our mouths or to convey the message with either eloquence or such profound vulgarity, which ever works best.

I wish there would be more young artists and groups here in the country who deals more in art rather in a pure political agenda. Can’t we infuse art and politics? There are a lot of issues in the country that spraying sublime wit on walls is simply unoriginal and just plain classless and tasteless. KMU does that, the Farmer’s Union does that, everyone does that, do something different.

We need more artists in the Philippines.

The answer to the Title question: World Domination (Of course, what else?)

Was that good for you as it was for me? ...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I must admit that for a book that has at least 500 page, this was the book I read as quickly as I could. It broke my previous record. Reading from the first chapters, it was obviously written by a man and is a book that’s probably made to be on film. Which gave me the impression that it’s a sell out, let’s see… 21 million copies sold world wide… I thought so.

Reading the book was fun, it was gripping. It was as though the book grew tentacles and wrapped me, pulling and tugging then making me fall with my face flat on the pages. Then getting up and walking away.

After reading the last page, I had that feeling when one wakes up next to a girl whom you try very hard to remember the name, then it hit you that you didn’t bother asking the previous night. But you know only too well that what happened was thrilling while it lasted, as a matter of fact it was amazing, then you wake up with that awful taste in your mouth. Getting up and wearing your clothes the right way suddenly became a tedious task.

To make it simpler, reading the ending was a headache. After opening all the mystery boxes what’s there left? You’ve devoured the main dish and the dessert is just too bland. Should I continue reading only to find out that the protagonist hadn’t changed a bit and is still boning one of the women casually?

The book may be described as dark, twisted and “insert macabre suggestive word here” but let me assure you that this book is nothing more than pure entertainment that was wrapped with a sweet happy ending.

Perhaps having the book translated from its original language made it seem as though it was written by a ghost writer. Since I don’t know how to speak or read Swedish, then I would never know the difference or even know Larsson’s writing style.

Mikael Blomkvist is the product if James bond had a baby with Sherlock Holmes (I know, Nancy Drew is also a detective but I’m a Lesbian and I want it that way)

The frustration perhaps of every geeky writer, computer programmer etc embodied the protagonist of the book. A writer with investigative journalism as major and someone who seemed to be the boy toy of the women in the book. In his book, there are no women who were conservative but women who indulge themselves in casual sex whenever they feel like it and women who crawl into Blomkvist’s bed, deliberately. The protagonist had it very easy that he doesn’t even have to wink at all.

Gripping true, at least when I was at the middle of the book, putting it down was the last thing I want to do. But reading the last few pages? Not as satisfying…

My rating: One-night-stand. However since it’s a trilogy, Occasional-lover then, given I’ll be able to purchase the next book. Hopefully someone would be kind enough to give it as a gift just as the same with this one. Yes, it’s those nights where after waking up and finding yourself to the door, you ask her number despite the fact you won’t ever call her for dinner and a movie. You didn’t ask for her name but she will be remembered by the evident image of a dragon on her back.

Final rating: One-night-stand that has the potential to be an occasional lover, if I buy the next book then the rating would change to Whore for Kronor, which is very unlikely.

Since the book is making its way to film, who should play the characters?

Mikael Blomkvist in my imagination could be Clive Owens.

I have no idea who they're casting but if it were up to me... I thought Clive Owens, he seems like that writer guy who can pull it off.

 

I was also thinking about Daniel Craig

Mikael Blomkvist must be a sort of rugged writer with a bit of sex appeal since he was one of the women's walking vibrator in the book.

For my Lisbeth I would like to see

Because I like her, despite the fact she's getting married now and is pregnant. You betrayed me Natalie!!

On the other hand, she's a great actress and I think she can give life to Lisbeth Salander.

 I'm also thinking about Neve Campbell or Selma Blair... Either one of them if not Natalie.

Neve

I think I would go with Selma on this one, she seemed almost perfect for the role of Lisbeth, at least in my imagination. Neve seemed a sweet compromise for the role.

Then again I'll wait for the film to surprise me. Right now I haven't checked who will be the cast and I don't want to...

 I don't want to describe Lisbeth much since it will spoil the book but I imagined Selma as Lisbeth.

Selma

*Spoiler* If you haven’t read the book and would like to, then please skip this portion.

Rumor has it that the writer was a feminist. The title of the book is not exactly as it were translated from its original language. Larsson has named the girl with the dragon tattoo Lisbeth, the same name of the girl he had witnessed to be gang raped but failed to help out. I don’t understand why would a writer name one of his main characters (that was also raped and molested in the book) after a girl who was gang raped. The girl was already violated in the most violent way and he wanted to immortalize that as well in a novel? It’s so Carlo J. Caparas if you ask me.

I believe frustration has something to do with it, in the book, Lisbeth fought her tormentor back in an interesting manner. I suppose it’s a way of saying that the writer had wished the girl fought back, taking justice into her own hands or it’s also a way of saying that women can fight back and should fight back.

Revenge maybe sweet but the satisfaction of prevention is beyond taste buds.

Persia in her eyes...

Persepolis Book I & II

A few years ago I read Persepolis book I and II. I discovered the wonderful book when I was ‘blackling’ ebook sites and much to my surprise I really enjoyed reading it. Written and illustrated by the author Marjane Satrapi, there was also a movie adaptation, which I watched the trailer on youtube over and over.

A child grew up in war conflicts though good manners and right conduct wasn’t exactly instilled in her system, for good reasons she was sent to Europe. With the character of the protagonist subtly delusional in the beginning, the book gives an interesting angle to look at Iran. Although the comic book tends to annihilate any gloomy emotional response perhaps because the author didn’t want it that way, perhaps she wanted really for it to be a book remembered by its comedy, which is tragic.

Read the book. Learn a bit about Iran, formerly known as Persia.

Since I read the book online I would like to really get a physical book since I like the illustration and the book colors. Included in my wish-list.

Houses in China comes with free Wife!

I was doing some research when I stumbled an article claiming that Real estate in China sells properties with a bonus for a wife.

What a blow to women and to humanity. A flamboyant display of women as nothing more than mere objects. What's sad is these women “agreed”, were they really not forced?? Hm...

Statistics said according to the link, that there are 120 men to every 100 women in China. So men have a tight competition, not to mention how many of those women are lesbians? Totally steeping up the competition for these male seeking partners. I have an idea to that problem... Homosexuality.

If men would just take each other as partners then it would definitely help the economy of China even more and they wouldn't have much problem abiding the “One-child policy”, they can also help the population's control greatly. If everyone wants a happy ending then they better change their views on LGBTQs.

P.S: I also saw a book on display in some bookstore entitled "Sold for Silver" then a Chinese woman was on the cover. I thought selling women or slaves in China was ancient history, now they give away Chinese women for free.