Lucy Knisley in my Brain

One of my favorite comic artists, Lucy Knisley, just posted a moving comic! So perfect.  We jam out of here in less than one week.

I hope people come to our going-away party at the bar tonight.  I hope I don't cry.

This is what a feminist looks like: Gabby Schultz

This is the last post of the day, promise.  I'm going on a trip to Michigan for a wedding, and I'm pretty sure I won't have time for thoughtful posts.

Yesterday I received a tube in the mail, filled with a color print of one of the best comics ever: How every single discussion of sexism and woman-type stuff on the internet (and real life) has ever happened and ever will happen, always, forever, until the earth finally falls into the sun. (Or until the patriarchy is dismantled).  Gabby Schultz is a man, and I think statements like this from men are very, very important.  This is not to say that the many pieces and speeches made by women about internet misogyny are not important.  They are, and I'm glad every time I hear one because I can say, "See! This happens! And it is totally shitty!" But since the shit is almost always coming from men/boys, to hear one of them put his put down is great.  Feminism is not a fight we can fight without men.  We need the men to come along with us.  If it wasn't possible for men to be feminist, we'd be fucked.  Herland sounded great, but men are people, and I like people, and we need them.

Here is the comic, which you should read:

If you are a lady on the internet who has ever said anything on the internet and other people could tell you were a lady, you have experienced this. Or you've witnessed it happening to other ladies. It has happened so bad to other women that some of them had to leave the internet, because they were threatened with physical violence.

The origin of this comic is a simple, true comment made by comic artist Kate Beaton (creator of Hark! A Vagrant!), after several "compliments" from readers saying they wanted to marry her and have her babies (or, her to have their babies as it were). She responded by saying (in brief) that those aren't compliments and do more harm than good. Compliment the talent, not the gender/looks of a person. You can read a great synopsis of the blow-up that ensued here and here.

I love Kate Beaton's work, and I'd already read Schultz's memoir/educational book about herpes, Monsters.  I love it when two creators I like converge, but this was an unfortunate way to.

After the comic got 666 comments (seriously, before he had to just shut it down) he decided to make some prints, one of which I was delighted to purchase so people may gaze upon it and go, "Huh, I guess that's right".  And when I opened the tube, there was also this:

Signed drawing by Gabby Schultz, just for me!!!!

When men speak up about sexism, they are not losing anything that they shouldn't already have, but giving others what they should.  If by being kind and respectful to women makes you lose something, then it was not something you probably want to keep.

To end, I will leave you with a Kate Beaton comic, that is pertinent to history (of course), computers and reminds me that International Women's Day is coming up on March 8th.

Kate Beaton's 'Young Ada Lovelace'.

Hyperbole and a Half > A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story is my family's go-to holiday movie, and at 28, I'm pretty sick of it.  One year I read In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd, which only made watching the movie worse (give him a try, stuff's pretty funny).  The best part about the movie is that my dad loves it, and it's good to see him laugh.  Usually when he laughs it is at the expense of someone else, which is hilarious when it's not me. We even got him a leg lamp a few years ago, which is ironically, stuck in a bedroom no one uses, away from the window.  You can get a leg lamp at leglamps.com.  I'm not kidding.

Not as funny at $99.99

Luckily, we don't watch It's a Wonderful Life or The Santa Claus.  We'll usually end up watching some horrible but entertaining action movie like Transformers.  I'm going to lobby heavily for The Day After Tomorrow which is my FAVORITE movie ever (tying close with Super Troopers).  I'm usually pretty Christmas'd out by the 20th, so Christmas Day is for sleeping, eating and watching stupid movies.   For your internetting pleasure, here's a scene from Super Troopers, with Jim Gaffigan (of Hot Pocket fame):

So, what am I getting at, other than just wasting time at work?  I have decided that Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a Half needs a movie deal (or some money, whatever, she's awesome) to make a live-action version of her comic-story "The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas".  I want this to be our new family xmas movie, to supplant Ralphie and the Bumpuses' dogs.  This excellent installment tells the story of a young Brosh re-imagining the birth of Christ with the help of her drunken family, because the original story and typical play are plain boring.  

I'm not going to post any more than this, because I don't want to deprive you of the joy and weeping and gagging that I experienced reading this comic.  Hell, even my parents liked it, and they enjoy stuff like Everybody Loves Raymond*.

*And that is a story for another day.