Music Monday: Changes Everything (a Halloween lack of remix)

Dance with it girl

On the surface, this is a sweet song about a girl who doesn’t have a bunch of money, but she still dresses like it’s date night to dance with her honey to songs on the radio.

But I seriously misheard the lyrics. And it makes sense this way….

Dat’s a dead girl

She was killed in a night club shooting (“Badda bang bang”), but her ghost keeps showing up at the night club to dance (“I can see your energy”). She doesn’t need money because ghosts don’t pay cover charges or buy drinks. The guy who was with her that night still shows up at the club sometimes because he misses her so (“worth more than diamonds, more than gold”).

Happy Halloween (and Nevada Day).

Shorties Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

Hope everyone had a safe Halloween. Happy All Saints Day.

Dave Johnson Telling the Truth: on the economy; on secret trade deals.

Enough to drive you crazy: Meat is bad for you, unless it isn’t; calories are the only thing that matter, but what the study says depends on who is reporting. The researchers concluded “When compared with dietary interventions of similar intensity, evidence from RCTs does not support low-fat diets over other dietary interventions for long-term weight loss.”

Unlikely source: The Economist isn’t where you would expect to find a report on a new canid species.

All Asking For It: On average, police in America killed 3 people every day of October. ThinkProgress has some highlights of police brutality.

Damned Liberal Media: with their facts and bias.

Pretty In Pink: Even the editors of the Las Vegas Sun noticed the pinkwashing of girls Halloween costumes and toys, publishing this NYT article.

TIL: Some cultures have a “Toilet God.”

Gilligan!: 22 shipwrecks found off the archipelago of Fourni.

See everyone tomorrow for some Music Monday!

Music Monday: One Weird Costume Party

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the Men In Black Dance Team!

In Closing: This year’s Worst of Sexy Costumes; yeah, that’s part of my problem with Hillary; the plague!!!; pay no attention to the x-ray vans; the bare minimum; half a brain; invisible hand smackdown of pharma bro.

The Town that Dreaded Shorties

Dinosaur Mystery: This huge-armed dinosaur is stranger than imagined.

Underwater Mystery: Amazing shipwreck pictures.

Women’s Issues: OTC birth control pills?

Obama: Apparently somebody else realized that the guy is a tweak to the right of Nixon. Oh yeah, and how dare he actually work with others around the world rather than just telling them all how shit is going down because we’re America and we know best.

A few random food and diet items: milk; resistant starch; sweetened soda isn’t just bad for you, it’s bad for your chromosomes.

Taking care of business: some of the oldest operating businesses in the world; and the history of money.

Halloween is coming: and that means sexy costumes are coming for no good reason.

Mormons: They would like us to know that it’s not really magic underwear.

Some random economy items: rent is going up faster than wages; wealth is growing faster than income, too; and of course that assumes that workers are being paid at all.

I hope nobody is surprised: banks behaving badly.

And check out some new music: Mixtress B.

Conflicted Feminist

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I’m a feminist. By that I mean that I believe in equal –not better — rights, opportunities, and safety for men and women within biological limits. I am not a man hater or a bra-burner. I realize that this might well put me out of step with parts of the modern feminism movement and I don’t give a [expletive]. Moving on now.

Labor Day is over and the Halloween costumes are on the store shelves. Sure it’s early September, but gotta move those costumes early so there will be room for Christmas decorations in October. Do not question retail-logic. Hence, the lovely little Wonder Woman costume above. The package contains a shirt, headband, and cape.

I have mixed feelings on this item.

There are a number of things I like very much about it. First, it does avoid sexualizing a child. The costume is much more modest than that worn by Linda Carter years ago, shows infinitely less bust than this version, even if it’s not as “hip” as some of the most modern interpretations. The shirt doesn’t even hint at skin above that golden WW. Second, it’s practical as a costume. Sure, it can be worn with a cute little short skirt, or blue leggings suggested by the package, or even jeans. This is double-good considering the fact that Halloween is at the very end of October. Oh yeah, Halloween can be cold up north. If the jersey is of sufficient quality — no way to know from the packaging — the shirt can even circulate into school-wear after the big day. Finally, it’s simple. There’s nothing fiddly that will take a half hour to get into place before going out in this costume. No fancy accessories that are likely to get lost or broken. No pressure to buy a “completer kit” like those damnable Star Wars costumes from a few years back. No complicated stage make-up. Put on shirt, put on headband, add cape if you feel like it, and go!

Now for the one, single thing I hate. Would you just look at that silhouette? This Wonder Woman is built to Barbie proportions. It’s not a figure that a healthy adult woman has, even if she works out and eats right, even if she gets a boob-job. Even most cartoon women are drawn more realistically than that. I’ve never been one to over-react to body image issues, but this might just be sending the wrong message: “Sweetie, you’re never gonna look like Wonder Woman so don’t even try. Just put on this tent with a sexy chick drawn on it.”

So what’s the verdict: am I supposed to love or hate this costume?

In closing: “a growing number of sailors feel more comfortable reporting an assault and believe something will be done about it when they do;” nevertheless, I think I’ll just roll my eyes next time somebody says America has a “culture of rape“; glub; food; HIV; some random items on employment.

Oh, and one more thing. This guy told me one: “What’s the difference between 9/11 and a cow? You stop milking the cow after 12 years.”