My film profiling the work and family life of tattoo artist Al Lytle. Enjoy!
America’s laws = God’s laws? A Game
Many people tell me that America’s laws are based on God’s laws in the bible. It happens often enough that I’ve developed a little game that I play with them. When they tell me America’s government is based on the bible, I take two pieces of paper and write on them, then fold them up [...]
The Life and Times of the Noisy Plume
We’ve started production on a series of short films profiling the lives and work of creative and interesting people. I’m looking for more of these individuals to add to the series, so please email me with any suggestions you may have. The first in the series is our good friend Jillian Lukiwski of thenoisyplume.com, who [...]
University bloodbath provokes outrage
Keywords: sex, sexuality, human sexuality, university, education sex ed, sexual education) Northwestern University came under fire this week after a demonstration held by a biology professor which involved the dissection of real live frogs. Around 100 students stayed for the optional session after being given an opportunity to leave. The professor apologized for the bloodbath, [...]
On the practice of making schoolchildren repeat the Pledge of Allegiance
I’m not from the United States, so occasionally I get into trouble for airing views which reflect a more British approach to subjects like patriotism and flags and national pride. This is one of those occasions. I made the following unwise comment yesterday on my Twitter feed: The sound of Blake Primary School children saying [...]
Disagreeing on Assange
John- I strongly disagree with you about Assange please warn your audience when you are going to talk about him because when i hear you praise him I get Pissed off at you and change the station (twice this week) I wonder if you would feel the same if some of his information was false [...]
Salvia and other drugs
Miley Cyrus is not a child anymore. She is 18 years old and experimenting with adulthood. Her act is becoming more sexually aware, shocking the mothers who forgot what sex is. But that was mild compared to the recent video clip showing her taking a hit of Salvia divinorum, a psychoactive plant described by some [...]
On the benefits of having an only child
Melissa and I have a son called Tyler who’s about to turn 8 years old. I’d like to tell you that everything about our decision to have a child in 2003 and then not to have another (at least by this time of writing) was the result of well-considered intention, but that would be too [...]
3 Unnecessary American Road Rules
Three U.S. rules that don’t make sense As a person from the United Kingdom living in the United States, I immediately noticed customs here that I preferred. Petrol pumps that can continue to fill without you holding the handle. Turning lanes. ‘Right on red.’ Drive-through ATMs. These are things I tell my UK friends should [...]
Is the hipster dead? And am I one?
Some people say the hipster is dead. Long live the fauxhemian! (Someone who conforms “to a safe, middle class lifestyle but with the superficial pretense of an alternative or Bohemian lifestyle”, according to the Urban Dictionary). And just when I was trying to work out whether I am one or not. I certainly exhibit many [...]
Marijuana and alcohol policy should be identical
Conservatives wish, by definition, to conserve the status quo, right? So, even when the status quo makes no sense, such as America’s prohibition of marijuana, they’ll seek to conserve it. Tomorrow, marijuana is a factor in voting in the two US states where I spend the most time; Arizona and California. (As a non-citizen, I [...]
Roger Ebert on objectification
Yeah, I’m not done with this subject yet, and I must apologize to those of you for whom the conversation has moved on. But since being accused of sexism in recent discussions on these issues, and finding myself in the regular company of women who don’t regard my feelings as sexist in the slightest – [...]
On Kilbourne: reaction
It’s been a slow conversation, this one, but a year after my critique, it’s finally getting interesting. Jean Kilbourne is a feminist author and speaker at college campuses, particularly on the issue of women in advertising. In August 2009 I reacted to a video of one of Kilbourne’s lectures with a critical response on this [...]
The Objectification Debate: we’re all objects
That’s right; we’re all objects with different purposes for each others’ use. In the recent debate on wolf-whistling, some commentators asserted the objectification of women; that, by vocalizing the male tendency to ‘reduce’ a woman to her body in sexually-prompted thought, we are ‘turning her’ into a sex object. This is a common feminist thought, [...]
Melissa Wright on wolf-whistling
As part of the convo on wolf-whistling which continues here, and in response to some comments directed at me ‘as a man’ (rather than simply as a commenter on whether wolf-whistling is sexist and/or harassment), I asked my wife Melissa to give her opinion as we sat working on our separate projects this afternoon. Melissa is [...]
Wolf-whistling isn’t harassment!
I don’t wolf-whistle at women passing on the street. But if I did it, it wouldn’t be harassment! That’s what is alleged by LASH, the London Anti-Street Harassment Campaign, whose representative says wolf-whistling is harassment against women. (See this article for a critique of that idea.) This is a brief spot I did today on [...]
Do Sunday ‘blue laws’ make sense?
One of the last ‘blue laws’ in Arizona has been repealed, making this Sunday the first during which someone in the state may buy alcoholic drinks before ten in the morning. A ‘blue law’ is a law designed to enforce moral standards. Typically blue laws involve what people may do on Sundays, the day Christians [...]
He’s back! Ted Haggard to start new church
Ted Haggard is back. You remember him, right? The former influential evangelical church leader who was discovered to have a gay-sex-with-male-prostitute-and-possible-love-for-methamphetamine habit on the side and is today insisting he’s entirely heterosexual? I’ve written him an open letter. *Clears throat.* ———————————– Dear Ted, You’re gay, dude. Own it! Heterosexual men do not desire sexual intercourse [...]
