Friday, June 12, 2009 - Posts
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Here's a guest post from Slate V intern Lindsay O'Neal:
On Wednesday, I joined a hundred other voyeurs at the Rock 'n' Roll Hotel in D.C. to watch air guitar's scandalous sister sport, air sex. Air sex, as the name implies, is a theatrical sexual performance with an imaginary partner. The Air Sex competitions are to be held in 16 cities across the U.S., culminating in the World Air Sex Championship where the Ultimate Air Lover will be crowned. (It would have been 17, but the Utah venue, facing a threat of a revoked liquor license if it hosted the event, backed out.)
I was surprised to find that the performers and the audience were of the typical D.C. mold—professional and straight-laced. My favorite, “Dr. Love,” came straight from the hospital still donning his scrubs. (Watch him, and the rest of the highlight reel, below.) The first performer, Auto Asphyxia, a Georgetown Law student, told me... (To read the rest of this post, and watch the highlight reel, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)
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Iranian voters go to the polls today in an election being discussed in apocalyptic terms,
as Iran’s next great awakening. Much of the popular excitement centers
around Zahra Rahnavard, wife of reformist candidate Mir Hussein
Moussavi, also known as Iran’s Michelle Obama. The 1979 revolution has
brought conflicting results for women. It’s created sexual hypocrisy
and fear of liberated women, as Janet Afary describes in her new book Sexual Politics in Modern Iran.
But it’s also raised the average age of marriage and opened up
opportunities for women. Rahnavard represents a slow awakening of... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)
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Great job, Obama! You've finally succeeded in getting somebody else
to take some of those Guantanamo detainees off your hands. Your
masterful diplomacy, although strangely ignored by more than 100 of our
petitioned allies, has swayed the tiny island country of Palau to
generously take a small group of the least dangerous detainees. Perhaps
also helpful was the mere fee of $200 million we're paying them,
which—as the Wall Street Journal points out—is
a practical $10,000 for every citizen of Palau. On the heels of that
good news comes yet more: Saudi Arabia is willing to take almost 100 of
the most dangerous detainees. Details of that negotiation still to come.
I can't help but wonder if the protesters who raged over
America's abuse of detainees in Guantanamo will express the same level
of outrage for... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)
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Emily, you brought up BlackBerry etiquette
yesterday, after Tom Golisano got mad at New York State Senate majority
leader Malcolm Smith for rude usage of his. I'm continually astounded
by the blatant disregard with which people whip out their devices and
start multitasking in situations where full attention is obviously what
etiquette demands. Or what safety demands—too often I've been the
backseat witness to the unnerving practice of BlackBerrying while
driving. I don't care that your BlackBerry has a map. Either pull over
to check it, or have the passenger navigate, just like in the old days
of paper maps.
But for the most part, it seems like even those guilty of succumbing to BlackBerry's pull toward constant communication, like Emily and Inci
admit to being, realize and feel guilty about their breach of
etiquette. The hazier question, I've found, is what's appropriate
regarding... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)
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Pixar’s making a movie about a girl! The animation company announced its schedule through 2012
and not one, but two of their films will feature females. Harping on
Pixar for not having made a movie with a female heroine sooner,
especially when I’m still high on Up! (just as Meghan is), feels a little like ragging on Jackson Pollack for not painting straight lines. Still, it’s exciting news.
The first film, Newt, out in 2011, imagines... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)
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