The Useless Critic 2.0

"This may be difficult when the Olympic Games take place in Sochi in February. As we know, Vladimir Putin has introduced laws prohibiting gays and lesbians to show their love in public in Russia. Furthermore, it is prohibited to talk positively about homosexuality in public. This is the reason why an increasing number of leaders worldwide have decided to boycott this year’s Olympics." - RussianKiss.org I have been an Annie advocate from the beginning (well, 2007.) And, as if it was even possible, she just made herself all the cooler, all the more awesome and all the more deserving of your time/attention/respect. How? She just released the protest song "Russian Kiss," blasting Putin and the Russian LGBT policy. It's pretty hot for a protest song; I have to be honest with you. It features the artist Bjarne Melgaard and was directed by the Vice photographer Richard Kern. This track has been getting a TON of attention (coupled with the video)- everyone f...

This story really piqued my interest today. Rochus Misch was loyal to Hitler until the very end. I mean not in a YAY NAZISM way, but in the way he always spoke highly of Hitler. As in saying at one point: " He was no brute. He was no monster. He was no superman. " Wow. Huh.  I'm kind of puzzled by this man (and RIP, he seemed like kind of a nice dude from what I read about him). He claimed to not know ANYTHING about the Final Solution... and how would you be Hitler's assistant/bodyguard/around him 24-7 and not have an inkling of that information? Misch seemed very sincere about all that, but to me it just seems way unlikely. It makes me wonder about the whole good vs. evil in people dilemma. I know we are all a composite of good and bad, but few of us are responsible for genocides against groups of people we deem unworthy or lesser-than, somehow. Still: Are you guilty by association when you are in cahoots with true evildoers? Do you remain responsible as a...

Today, the dubious honor goes to: North Korea. In case you haven't heard, the 1953 armistice has been nullified. Great. So goes North Korea, the world's chihuahua, constantly barking its head off at Dobermans. I wish they actually took care of THEIR OWN PEOPLE instead of blasting off aggression from every direction. WWJAD = What Would (Jodi Arias) Do? Let's hope this situation is resolved without violence. 

I'm giving a local a shout-out this time!  JODI ARIAS a.k.a. Casey Anthony for People That Go To Church.  Should I be concerned people are googling her voice? Why is that necessary? Do people jack off to this crap? God, do I want to know... I have lied in my diary but it's like usually " DEAR DIARY, I'M PRETTY AND PEOPLE LIKE ME. GOSH, IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT RYAN GOSLING AND I ARE GOING LARPING."  Okay, what bothers me about this girl is her insistence she's innocent. I mean please just fess up and say you did this. Self-defense does not involve multiple stab wounds, slitting a throat, sexually provocative photos in a shower...dear God Jodi!  I mean it sounds like they had a weird, weird, WEIRD relationship. This woman changes her story more often than I vacuum. And that's a true statement; you can ask my pig-children. Please don't buy her artwork, by the way. She can deal with the sloth spam they serve in prison.  And the weird part is...

I've updated "Be Useful" in reflection of last week's tragedies in Newtown.  I copied and pasted it, but here it is regardless. Also: it will be on the "Be Useful" page likely until February. See the PAGE for more info.  Be Useful is devoted to the Newtown Tragedy for the next month or so, and ways you can help those affected. I'm sure you've seen a few by now, but it's such a huge cause. And I'd like to do what I can and you're probably the same way. Here are some ideas. I hope you can use them, and I hope they really DO help, on some level: http://www.newtownyouthandfamilyservices.org/index.php    http://newtownmemorialfund.org/ https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=4993    https://newtown.uwwesternct.org//    https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheEngelFamilyFund   http://www.crowdrise.com/SHSRelief  Here is a list of more sites that can lead you to additional ways to help: http://www.huffi...

Last year, it was May 2011. Before that, it was Y2K. Then, someone had once told me it was 1996. I kid you not: I hid under my stairs for an hour waiting for it. BOOM! This year, I don't even care. If the world ends, whatever. I think I would have been more concerned if this year hadn't been so full of hate and violence. From the tragic-beyond-words shooting in Newtown last week to the near-assassination of a little girl activist in Pakistan, I've become numb to these vague and somewhat cheesy concepts. I'm sure I'm not alone. I've been personally hoping we'd experience some kind of spiritual awakening today, but thus far, my interactions with people haven't proved this.  I hope you haven't bought into this hype. There will always be such scares. Humans have a need for mass hysteria. We always have. I wish we could somehow take the energy directed toward such things and use it to solve the (likely) preventable problems among ourselves. ...

I'm not silly enough to consider myself a New Yorker- crap, I lived there for six months. But I had some awesome, awesome friends there. And I still have  awesome friends there. Even Yvette who I worked with and Marjorie as well, who I never got to know as well as I hoped. Jack, Steven, Sam, Kia- and other people like Ian who doesn't live there now and Alyssa who I never really knew until after I went home- well! I know you are not all horribly affected, but I want you to know you are in my thoughts very much right now. Even though New York ate me alive, and I have just really begun to recover from everything that happened while I lived there- it is a fantastic city and this news coverage has broken my heart. Once I get paid again, I will be donating money to relief efforts (I didn't have much of a bed until recently, so I'm not the most well-off girl). If you are interested in doing similar, here are some resources: Red Cross Thin Red Line Don't Get Hoo...

Hurricane Sandy is set to wreak havoc on the East Coast. Naturally, I am concerned for my friends and family there, which is 90 percent of them. Perhaps 80 percent.  Keep safe kids, from your friends at the UC! Here are some resources to use if you haven't started preparing yet- and I hope you have! http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/life-lines-where-readers-write/2012/oct/28/hurricane-sandy-eight-tips-how-cope-frankenstorm http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/tips-on-preparing-for-the-superstorm-forecast-to-bring-destruction-to-east-coast/2012/10/28/8a4c3400-2113-11e2-92f8-7f9c4daf276a_story.html http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes I honestly hope someone tells me it's all hype and they opened their door in the middle of the storm to Olivia Newton John saying "hey, STUD." Man oh man. End times? Schmend mimes! 

I have to admit, first of all, I have been half-paying attention to the escalating situation in Syria. A lot of foreign affairs are far beyond my grasp (for whatever reason, I'm a reasonably intelligent girl) so I just don't even try to follow them. I are American. I shop at Wal-Mart sometimes (sometimes).  But it's been getting enough exposure on the news- whatever news pond I choose to drink from*,  that it's really become impossible for me to ignore. And it should be impossible for you- or anyone checking this website from whatever cushy pad they happen to be in- to ignore, as well. YES, gas prices are going up. YES, Whitney Houston is very dead ( :/ ). Yes, every Republican candidate is....WELL LET'S NOT OPEN THAT CAN OF WARMS (Sarah Palin:  why aren't you running? you were, at best, gently alarming...or naturally amusing!) But Syria has as every right to be as important as any of these topics, possibly even moreso. In a nutshell:  as has been happ...

When NPR loves a band, you can rest assured it's probably a good thing. NPR is fickle with its love, after all. And they <3 this brother-sister duo from Brooklyn so much! In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find (from those that know of them) any bad publicity about this alternative folk group. Since 2009, they have been nothing but well-received and have toured with the Handsome Family and the Tallest Man on Earth, among others! In 2010, for their follow-up The Future, This Frontier Needs Heroes used fan donations to record, which I think is an interesting concept and shows how well-liked this band really is! I mean not all bands could do that kind of thing and have it work! And, in an almost Bon Iver twist, they recorded The Future in an old school house in Wassaic, NY, with engineer Justin Pizzoferrato who has previously worked with the likes of Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore. Here, I got to ask Brad Lauretti a few questions about the origin of their name, recordin...

MEANWHILE IN PAKISTAN Bin Laden:  WHY HASN'T MY STREAM OF THE ROYAL WEDDING LOADED YET Henchman:  We have dial-up. Bin Laden:  WHY HASN'T MY REAL HOUSEWIVES LOADED YET Henchman:  We have dial-up, Bin Laden:  WHY HASN'T MY CELEBRITY APPRENTICE LOADED YET Henchman:  We have dial-up.  Bin Laden:  WHAT THE- then:

Edinboro native Shelley Mook has been missing for nearly a month now. I've been following this story on and off on the national and local news, but it doesn't sound nor look good. still remain positive, hey? you can read about Shelley here - she sounds like a well-liked, positive girl. I hope she turns up soon; please keep her/family in thoughts/prayers.

I love Australians . Australians and Finns are my favorite people. do you know who I don't like? people from Malta. where the fuck is Malta anyway. WELL. Australia is having a lottttt of problems with floods. haven't you heard? ARE THESE END TIMES? and also, also also also, if you have some semblance of a conscious, you could perhaps donate a little to Congresswoman Giffords ' favorite charity . I am not speaking big donations for either of these groups. I just feel bad that I can't do more to help, you know? you do what you can. p.s. speaking of Australians, I feel like giving Ladyhawke another go. etc. BRAZIL

do you ever wonder if they are consorting with the Kremlin in between cocktails? ME TOO.

As you all probably know by this point, there was a huge earthquake in the poorest country on the nation, Haiti. (which makes you wonder about things like nature and fate- WTF? can't they get a break?) Over 100,000 are reported to be dead/missing. Now typically I try to focus on music and literature and nice alternatives to the bleakness of everyday life (really that's how I see it) but I can't really like, let this go by without posting this: http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-sk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=haiti%20humanitarian Google collected shortcuts to all these various charities that are helping with the victims in this situation. It makes it easy to donate money, fast. Barack Obama has done a nice job of reacting swiftly. his speech yesterday, I think, was one of his best by far. And also, this tragic event gave Pat Robertson a big chance to exercise his anus. Oops I meant mouth! keep Haiti in your thoughts an...

...is Dutchman Jasper Schuringa, aka THIS GUY: http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/hero-passenger-we-heard-bang-17324097 who I think is awesome and it's not just because he's Dutch! Okay so the explosives didn't work but still. I don't think my reflexes would have been so fast! I would have been like UHHH, looking up from my Cosmopolitan (how to give him the best orgasm ever!) and then POOOOOOF. And so what if he's demanding money after CNN took his cell phone image. I would demand money too!!!! also, I was genuinely freaked out this happened somewhere so close. I mean, Detroit. doesn't that city have enough problems? LESSON NUMBER ONE TERRORISTS, AVOID THE RUST BELT.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/attack-fort-hood-victims/story?id=9017682

so how do you guys feel about President Obama being named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner? I will be mum on my feelings of the matter, but....

So by now I'm sure you've heard that the International Olympic Committee selected Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the location for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, as well as the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Other finalists included Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid. Going into the final voting, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro were thought to be the favorites. Chicago was summarily knocked out of the running in the first round. As a native Chicagoan (born, raised, and living here at the present time), I think I can safely speak for the vast majority of us: we're glad we didn't get it. There have been plenty of celebrities, athletes, and Very Important People (ranging from Barack and Michelle Obama to Oprah to Michaels Phelps) who have supported the nomination, but the common opinion has largely been that of ambivalence. The main issue is that of financing. From whence will the money come to pay for the Olympic Village (and stadiums, etc)? In part from private investors--who may not have the f...

It seems like all you hear about on the news these days is health care. Is Obama's plan the right way to go about things? Should we stick with what we've got? Is Obama actually propagating the socialist agenda? (Answers: maybe, probably not, and the day Obama supports socialism is the day Republican politicians stop cheating on their wives.) Frankly, I don't think anyone is ever going to agree, and the Democrats and the GOP need to learn to compromise. But until that day comes - you know, when pigs fly and hell freezes over - I think we should all listen to Troubled Hubble's song "Ear, Nose & Throat." (Watch the video above.) Troubled Hubble was a band from Chicago who broke up only weeks after I discovered them in 2005. They released a number of albums in their six-year existence, with their best - and my personal favorite - "Making Beds in a Burning House" coming out in 2005. "Ear, Nose, Throat" is particularly of interest, especiall...