Today is National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which also com­mem­o­rates the anniver­sary of the Montréal Massacre in 1989. I am hon­oured to have been asked to read one of my poems at the Toronto Candlelight Vigil to mark the anniver­sary of this tragic event.

The fact is that vio­lence against women is an everyday reality for mil­lions of girls and women around the world. There are many kinds of vio­lence. The word “vio­lence” is related to the word “vio­la­tion” – and each time a woman’s right to be a full, self-determining human being is vio­lated because she is a woman, vio­lence against women is com­mitted. From media and adver­tising depic­tions of women as vapid damsels in dis­tress worthy of little more than objec­ti­fi­ca­tion for men’s plea­sure, to domestic abuse, work­place sexual harass­ment, date rape, mar­ital rape, the misogyny of reli­gious fun­da­men­talisms, and sexual assault and gender-based vio­lence, women, girls and trans people are still much more likely to be at the receiving end of vio­lence and vio­la­tion. These prob­lems are usu­ally worse for women who are not white, not from the upper-middle classes, and those of us who straddle mul­tiple social-cultural iden­ti­ties as immi­grants and chil­dren of immi­grants. Continue reading ‘National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women’»

So many things to occupy time, so little time for them to occupy.

Here’s an inter­esting inter­view I came across with author Salman Rushdie

For the other geeks among us, you might find PC World’s list of the Top 50 Tech Visionaries inspiring.

Here, you can listen to an audio ver­sion of a Q&A between Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell and Ann Hathaway (listen to the audio online by clicking on the link in the middle there).

Lastly, but def­i­nitely not leastly, here’s a tribute to the fun­niest guy who ever lived who died this past weekend, George Carlin. The world was fun­nier with ya, George, we’ll miss your sick, twisted, bril­liant brain. Here he is, in his own words…

Battlestar Galactica‘s Tricia Helfer’s
‘Angel for Animals’ PETA PSA

Click on the poster to read more about Tricia and to enter a con­test to win Battlestar Galactica DVD’s!

Yowza! I’m played by Lucy (in the sky)!

Which Battlestar Galactica Cylon Are You?

Battlestar Galactica @ BuddyTV.

Frito-Lay‘s new Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, which are the “offi­cial sponsor” of The Colbert Report‘s cov­erage of the pres­i­den­tial pri­maries, have earned praise from PETA…

Confused? Did you follow along the “brawl” sto­ry­line? Here’s your chance to catch up:

“Since we began nego­ti­a­tions in July, we’ve been saying, ‘If they get paid, we get paid.’ This con­tract makes that a reality. It’s the best deal this Guild has bar­gained for in 30 years after the most suc­cessful strike this Guild has waged in 35 years. It was arguably the most suc­cessful strike in the American labor move­ment in a decade, clearly the most impor­tant of this young cen­tury. It is not all that we hoped for, and not all that we deserved. But as I told our mem­bers, this strike was about the future, and this deal assures for us and for future gen­er­a­tions of writers a share in the future…”

This is from Nikki Finke’s blog that has been a con­stant source of strike news and updates.

The show-runners (writers/producers) return to work on Monday, the show writers are to return on Wednesday after a mem­ber­ship vote on the terms of the deal. This is great! This means The Office, and Dexter and Battlestar Galactica and everyone else will be back in action soon! Yay!

from kcd – A web­comic of romance, sar­casm, math, and lan­guage – By Randall Munroe

AP has selected Colbert as its Celebrity of the Year, which makes a lot more sense than the former KGB officer chosen by Time magazine.

“It is truly an honor to be named the Associated Press’ Celebrity of the Year. Best of all, this makes me the offi­cial front-runner for next year’s Drug-Fueled Downward Spiral of the year. P.S. Look for my baby bump this spring!”
—Stephen Colbert

Industry insider blog Deadline Hollywood Daily, among others, is announcing that The Colbert Report and The Daily Show by Jon Stewart will be returning to the air starting January 7, 2008. Finally I can start paying atten­tion to the news of the world again! Without these two around making reg­ular com­men­tary on world events, watching the news was like chain-smoking unfil­tered cig­a­rettes. Thanks, Universe!