I was driving home from somewhere the other night, and this really lesbian-y show was on the radio. If you know me, you know I love me some lesbian singer-songwriter, and I used Shazam to identify “Rambling Man” by Ms. Marling, since I instantly loved it. I wouldn’t have had a clue that she was only 21, based on her music. It’s incredibly mature, and her voice has a little bit of sexy huskiness to it that one would expect from someone 10 years older. Also: Marcus Mumford (of Mumford and Sons) provides the backing vocals on her latest album “I Speak Because I Can,” so that’s pretty awesome too.

I imagine people in England have known about her for a while now, but I’m just now discovering her and I had to share! Here’s a Spotify link for those of you who are lucky enough to have an account already: Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can”

If you haven’t heard it, the chorus goes like this:

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, outrun my gun
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet

Uh…is it just me, or is this song about a school shooting? I read something in “Rolling Stone” where the lead singer said the song was supposed to be some sort of statement against school violence, but looking at the lyrics, there’s nothing to suggest that to me. The lyrics, combined with the upbeat, catchy tune, seem to me to be doing nothing but glorifying violence.

I graduated from Thurston High School, where, on May 21, 1998 Kip Kinkel walked into the cafeteria before school and opened fire. Kip Kinkel was bullied, and he sought revenge through mass violence, shooting “all the other kids with the pumped up kicks,” killing two of them. I wasn’t there then as I was only in 6th grade, but my older brother was, and that day lives on as the most terrifying day of my life so far.

Maybe I’m overreacting or being too sensitive, but this song just freaks me out. I’m sure Foster the People are a great band, and lyrics aside, it’s a great song, but I just can’t get behind it. For a song that ‘s supposed to be anti-violence, it’s awfully vague and open to interpretation, so if I’m hearing it this way, I’m sure others are as well. Maybe some young Kip Kinkels or Dylan Klebolds and Eric Harrises are hearing it and thinking it sounds like a great idea. I really hope not. We don’t need any more violence like what we saw at Thurston or Columbine or the more recent mass shooting in Norway. We need to be letting kids know that violence isn’t the solution to whatever inner turmoil they’re going through, and this song just isn’t doing that.

A main theme of the two books is violence against women, and it’s interesting and refreshing to read a book by a male author that has such obvious feminist themes. In fact, the Swedish title of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is Män som hatar kvinnor, which translates to Men Who Hate Women. The fact that the title was changed fascinates me, and I kept thinking about it as I was reading the books. Why was it changed? How does it change how the book is read and/or perceived? Maybe I’m reading way too much into it, but I think it says a lot about the publishing industry and American society.

There are any number of reasons why the title might have been changed for English readers, but I can’t help but think that it’s because of the left-leaning, feminist content of the book. It makes sense: a book called Men Who Hate Women, based solely on the title, has less appeal to a wide audience, especially men, who — I think it’s safe to assume — are the majority of crime/mystery novel readers. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, on the other hand, follows the naming pattern of the second book, adding an element of cohesion to the series, and adding an air of mystery and intrigue. In addition, one could indeed argue that Americans (and less so the English) are, by and large, more conservative than European readers, and may be put off by a title that sounds like some feminist manifesto, since feminism has some very negative connotations. The publisher no doubt took these things into consideration when deciding how to publish and market the books to English-speaking readers.

As much sense as it makes to change the title, I think it does a disservice to both the novel and its readers, for several reasons. The first is that Men Who Hate Women so accurately describes what the series (or at least the first two books) is about that it almost seems stupid to call it anything else. In fact, I would argue that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo isn’t even that great of a title, because Lisbeth Salander seems to me to play more of a supporting role in the first book, and her tattoo (one of several) is the least interesting thing about her.

Second, with the title of Men Who Hate Women, you know right off the bat that this isn’t just some frivolous, entertaining, run-of-the-mill mystery novel; there are political and social commentaries embedded within the plot, commentaries the reader ought to be aware of. The social and political themes aren’t removed in any way by the alteration of the title, but the original title frames the entire novel in a different light than the English version. Men Who Hate Women is more thought-provoking; I knew about the title change going into the book, and subsequently found myself thinking about the characters in reference to the former title. “What is this man’s attitude toward women?” I would ask myself. “How does he fit into the theme of violence against women?” We don’t have any way of knowing, since he’s dead, but I imagine this is the sort of thing Larsson had in mind when he wrote the books. They were written for his own pleasure in his evenings after work, but he clearly had something to say, and he went through the effort of submitting them for publication.

I have a tendency to over-think things sometimes, but not usually when it comes to books. I don’t like to over-analyze them; however, some novels are enhanced by thoughtful contemplation (To Kill A Mockingbird and The Old Man and the Sea immediately come to mind), and I believe these books to be of that caliber. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest comes out in the United States in May, and when I read it, I’ll be keeping in mind that it was originally titled Luftslottet som sprängdes, which translates to The Air Castle That Blew Up (air castle being a term used in Swedish to refer to pipe dreams).

Alright, kids, that’s it for Comparative Lit. class today! Don’t forget your essays on Sylvia Plath, due next week! 

One of the first times I used the site, I chatted with a charming girl from San Francisco who may or may not have been a prostitute. When I asked her what she did for a living, she said “things I’m not proud of.” Granted, she easily could have been lying. The site’s completely anonymous, so there’s no way of knowing that you’re talking to who you think you’re talking to. But that’s also kind of the fun of it. Anyway, this girl who called herself “Sonya” was actually a real pleasure to talk to. We had a pretty good conversation, which got my adventures off to a great start.

The next night, however, wasn’t as good. Pretty much everyone I talked to was from one of the Asian countries and had a poor grasp on the English language. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against Asians; I just would prefer to do my chatting with someone who’s fluent in English. After all, how much fun is chatting if you can’t really chat? And that’s one thing that’s striking about the site…even though it was created by an American, the user base seems to be overwhelmingly Asian. Not sure why that is.

Tonight was also a pretty decent night. I talked to a guy who’s stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington in the US Army. He’s being shipped off to Iraq in August, and seems to have a great deal of regret for joining the military. He was waiting for his laundry to finish, and we had a fairly decent chat as well. Apparently when he was in basic training, his girlfriend was killed by a drunk driver, and he didn’t find out until his parents showed up for his graduation. I didn’t get his name, but I wish him the best of luck.  Hopefully he makes it back from Iraq alive.

Other interesting people I’ve talked to:

• A total tech geek who disconnected after finding out that I don’t use Linux
• A 16-year-old gay kid from New Jersey who had apparently just snorted something.  He was staying at the house of the middle-aged guy he was sleeping with. Thanks for giving us homos a great reputation, kid.
• A guy who right up front asked me if I was “a horny female.” When I told him I could be if he wanted, he said “OK” but then got mad when I told him I wasn’t actually a 19-year-old Korean girl.
• Another guy who told me he was horny enough that he didn’t care whether I was a guy or a girl. Noticing a recurring theme here? Lots of horny guys on the site looking to cyber.
• A Scandinavian (can’t remember the country) who e-mailed me pictures of two penises: his, and his father’s.
• Someone who was able to tell me what city I lived in without me telling them, which was really creepy.
• An 18-year-old girl who had just broken up with her boyfriend of two years because he had cheated on her. She was on the verge of a breakdown, and needed someone to talk to. I’m definitely no qualified therapist, but I hope I helped at least a little.

That’s just a sampling of the dozens of people I’ve encountered on the website in less than two weeks of using it. I really would recommend trying it out. It’s free, and completely anonymous, and you never know who you’ll meet. It might just be someone who makes your day.

Omegle.com

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

I saw this story on Digg earlier, and people seemed really upset about it, calling the President a lying bastard and whatnot.  First of all, it’s pretty well-known that President Obama is pro-gun control.  Second, why the hell does anyone need an assault rifle in the first place?  I mean, assault rifles are made for one purpose:  killing people.  You can’t hunt with them; all you can do is slaughter people.  Quickly.  So call me crazy, but I think anything made for the sole purpose of killing people should be restricted from the general public.  I really can’t see any reason for people to have them…I’ve certainly never seen any good done with an assault rifle.

If anyone can give me a good reason or two why someone SHOULD own an assault weapon, I’ll change my mind.  Otherwise I think President Obama is right on the money by re-enacting the ban.

Source:  ABC News

If the movie turns out as good as the trailer suggests, “Watchmen” is going to be awesome.

I read the graphic novel a couple weeks ago and enjoyed it, but wasn’t really in love.  After seeing the trailer though, I’m totally pumped.  And it looks like they’ve done a fantastic job of replicating the visuals from the book.  It also doesn’t hurt that the leading men are all pretty attractive  :)

I recently discovered the list of “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die” which has been published in a book of the same title but which can also be found on the Internet in list and Excel forms. An Excel spreadsheet is considerably more manageable since it’s such a long list. The only Excel version I’ve been able to find, by Arukiyomi, I don’t like all that much. You can find that one here.

So I made my own version of the spreadsheet (but all the credit goes to Arukiyomi, for doing all the work, I just simplifed it). It’s simple and easy to read, without all the clutter and “fancy” formatting of the other. I’m a minimalist, what can I say?

So feel free to download my version of the spreadsheet. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to comment or email me.

Update: Arukiyomi has a new version of the spreadsheet (which includes the updated, 2010 list). Head on over to Arukiyomi’s blog for that. I don’t wish to discredit all his hard work (or steal it), so head on over and check his stuff out.

I think I’m going to have to go out and buy his other albums now.

Damn addictively good music.

I had no idea the website even existed until I happened to stumble upon it by way of LyricWiki.  It seems there’s a Wiki for just about everything these days.  You really can find anything you need to know on the Internet.

THAT is why I love Brandi Carlile.  What other artist does that?  She even had the audience sing the harmonies on “Turpentine.”  It was fucking fantastic.

I think the song is called “How These Days Grow Long,” and I’m hoping it will be on her next album, because it’s pretty awesome.  By the way, Brandi, when is that next album coming out?