Weekend This And That: Open Thread

by: Autumn Sandeen

Sat Oct 31, 2009 at 17:30:00 PM EDT

So below is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob & I have been looking at so far this week.

• The Door's Hell House IV:

Final Destination IV: The Haunted Mansionhas been set into motion. Save the dates: Oct. 29, 30, & 31.

New Times Best of Phoenix - Beware: Final Destination, in its fourth incarnation at the Door Christian Center in Chandler, is not a traditional haunted house. If you're looking for a fun and scary activity to work in between bouts of recreational drug use, promiscuous sex, and idol worship, this "haunted house-style attraction" run by evangelical Christians is not for you. Unless, that is, you're willing to watch a doctor hold down a screaming patient during a mock abortion before going back to your normal weekend routine of smoking up a hooker (using a Bible as rolling paper) while listening to Marilyn Manson. Final Destination is, however, very well put together, with great acting, impressive production values, and passionate workers who'll do their best to save your soul. If you're a remorseless heathen who's Hell-bound anyway, or if you're maybe interested in getting saved, Final Destination makes for a pretty ***** entertaining night.

Participate in our Final Destination event for 2009. More than 1400 persons attended last year with more than 300 decisions. Volunteers will be needed in all areas, acting, make-up, special effects, set construction, and security to mention a few. Be a part of impacting the East Valley for Jesus. Be sure to invite friends, family, co-workers, peers, and anyone that you meet. It'll be an event you don't want to miss!!

• San Francisco Chronicle's Ex-cosmetics employee indicted in spending spree:

A former cosmetics company employee has been indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on a mail-fraud charge for allegedly using a company card for personal expenses ranging from a down payment on a luxury car to purchases at stores.

Nicole Buchan, 29, charged nearly $179,000 on an American Express corporate card that Benefit Cosmetics had obtained for her use, according to a grand jury indictment issued Thursday.

The personal expenses charged on the card included high-end electronics, designer clothes and accessories from stores such as Gucci, Coach, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, J. Crew, Nordstrom and Victoria's Secret, the indictment said...

This gives a whole new meaning to the term "beautiful people," doesn't it?

• Judy Berman's Salon.com piece Is Seventeen teaching transphobia?:

What do you think your daughter is learning from Seventeen magazine? Self-esteem? Hopefully. Body hatred? Perhaps. How to buy a flattering winter coat or strike up a conversation with that hottie from homeroom? Most likely. I'll forgive you for not guessing "transphobia." But that may be exactly what teen and tween girls are getting out of a troubling Seventeen article called "My boyfriend turned out to be a girl!"

The piece, posted as a PDF at Pam's House Blend, begins innocently enough. Narrator "Sheri" (who told her story to Senior Editor Jessica Press) recounts the beginnings of her relationship with "Derek" ...

...As Autumn Sandeen at Pam's House Blend points out, there are positive points to the story: Press does, for instance, use the pronoun "he" to refer to Derek throughout the body of the piece. But the headline is nothing short of heinous. To say "My boyfriend turned out to be a girl!" is to deny a transman's male identity and imply that to suggest otherwise is to lie. And a blurred-out photo of the couple, captioned with the scrawled words "He was actually a she!," is even more offensive. Sandeen writes:

The point is that the Seventeen editor for this story chose to portray female-to-male trans youth as really girls -- and by extension male-to-female trans youth are really boys. In the way the story was presented, it portrayed all trans people as being deceptive liars -- and "lie" is their word, not mine. Trans people, and many others in and out of LGBT community, know that genitalia and the gender markers on identification documents don't always tell the full gender story of an individual.

She quotes the GLAAD Media Guide's Transgender Glossary, which warns journalists that "Gender identity is an integral part of a person's identity. Please do not characterize transgender people as 'deceptive,' as 'fooling' other people, or as 'pretending' to be, 'posing' or 'masquerading' as a man or a woman. Such descriptions are extremely insulting." ...

I'm pretty glad the Judy Berman "got it," and followed up on the Pam's House Blend piece. The issues aren't "Sheri" and "Derek," the former couple found in the article, or about the take "Sheri" had regarding the experience or what a cad "Derek" was described as being, but about the editorial decisions that were made in how Seventeen framed Sheri's story.

And too, it was the lack of context regarding the broader life experiences of trans youth, and that trans youth aren't all "deceptive" by really being the gender tied to the shape of their genitalia at birth.

• Entertainment Earth®'s Barbie: Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken Doll:

• Lookin' for a sugar daddy?
• Head to Palm Beach with Ken!
• Silkstone Barbie Doll body and part of the elite Gold Label Collection.
• Made with the adult collector in mind!
• Includes accessories and a certificate of authenticity.

Join the cool sophistication in breezy Palm Beach! Sporting a dashing jacquard-patterned jacket with a light pink polo shirt and crisp white pants, this Ken Doll is ready for the Palm Beach social season, sunning by the pool, and a stroll with his furry little companion. Fashion designed exclusively for the Silkstone Barbie Doll body, he's made with the adult collector in mind. This item includes a Ken doll, jacket, pink polo shirt, white shoes, dog with leash, swim trunks, accessories, doll stand, and certificate of authenticity. Look no further for your sugar daddy!

Really? Sugar Daddy? Really?

• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: The Troy Messenger's Turnout good at Peanut Butter Festival despite rain:

People from all across South Alabama showed up to Brundidge's Peanut Butter Festival today, despite early morning showers.

Brundidge Mayor Jimmy Ramage said he thought the turnout was good considering the weather.

"It was flooding this morning," Ramage said. "And the weather people said all week it was going to rain all weekend."

The wiener part of this story:

The Pike County Cattlewomen were feeding the crowd, selling hamburgers and beef hot dogs.

Pike County Cattleman James O. Johnson said he and Wayne Davis and Mike Wilson had been cooking for the Cattlewomen all morning and that the organization donated the beef for the booth.

The proceeds from the hot dog and hamburger sales went to Relay for Life.

So anywho...It's an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?

And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because...it's an open thread! Woo-hoo!