Cameron vs. Fry: It’s Just Not Cricket

Posted on by Kelly Welles


British Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected a plea from Stephen Fry to ban Russia from hosting the Winter Olympics, stating that while he “share’s [Fry’s] deep concern about the abuse of gay people,” he believes “we can better challenge prejudice as we attend.”

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Artificial Meat: The Visceral Vegetarian View

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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It wouldn’t be the first time I’d ruined one of my Gran’s tablecloths. Image via videogum.

I can’t wait for Christmas. This artificial meat malarkey will add a whole new dimension to the sanctimonious questioning I receive from ageing relatives and acquaintances regarding my ability to make valid moral decisions.

Still, at least there’s the possibility that the increased stress of trying to disentangle the philosophical dilemmas therein might cause my brain to explode in their faces.

Those carnivores love a bit of offal, don’t they?

Citizens of Sichuan: Go Frack Yourself

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Please contact the Customer Service department if you have any queries. Image via circleofblue.org.

Apparently they’ve started fracking in China’s Sichuan province. You know, where they had that massive earthquake earlier this year?

Fracking, to the uninitiated, is a process of oil extraction that involves pumping a water/chemical mixture at high pressure into the earth. It’s known to cause tectonic stress if continued for sustained periods of time.

What could possibly go wrong?

The Viewer: Killing Season

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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The promo poster should have warned me off. It’s hard to take John Travolta seriously at the best of times, but when he’s cast in a movie that requires him to sport a beard/hair combo made of fuzzy felt, a homemade bow and arrow and an off-the-shelf Eastern European accent, it’s impossible to say the signs weren’t writ large.

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Blurred Lines? Nope, Just An Optical Illusion.

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Parodies of overtly sexualised imagery are becoming more frequent in popular culture lately – their viral fecundity rooted in how hilarious blokes look whilst pulling the same ridiculous ‘erotic’ poses as their female counterparts did in the original.

The latest, a reboot of Robin Thicke’s controversial ‘Blurred Lines’ promo performed by Mod Carousel, is no exception. But when you’re done wincing, pointing and laughing as butch boys wiggle their way across your screen wearing thongs and high heels, there’s a more serious point to be made.

The poses, not the people, look ridiculous. We’re just so inured to ‘sexy’ women acting like elasticated, pneumatic, tottering automatons, we don’t really notice them anymore.

Scant comfort can be found in the fact that I’m not fourteen and primed to buy into this shit. After all, there’s millions of kids who are.

Homophobia: Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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These images of formerly homophobic Christians attending a Gay Pride march in Chicago to apologise for their attitude have been circulating the internet since 2010.

I only saw them yesterday after a good friend of mine linked to them on Facebook, but does humanity in it’s purest form ever lose it’s power to inspire?

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Feminism: If It Was That Easy, We’d All Be Doing It

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Image via huffpost.

Jackie Johnson-Smith found this message written on her receipt after a restaurant meal with her family. During the meal, Johnson-Smith breastfed her baby and the waitress who wrote it, aware of the negative responses such behaviour sometimes provokes was moved to offer her support, stating that “We need to come together and support each other when it comes to nursing our children.”

Johnson-Smith was so touched by Bodi Kinney’s gesture that she photographed the receipt and posted it on Facebook. Her full response is here, but the line that caught my heart was the last one.

…although I don’t need a pat on the back for feeding my child, it sure felt amazing. It is amazing how we women can make each other feel when we empower each other.

It reminded me that feminism was founded on principles of mutual support and the benefits of sharing experiences. Somehow that’s become lost, probably somewhere underneath the dust and debris that falls as we all desperately scramble for purchase on the increasingly crowded wall of ownership and academic superiority.

The truth is, we’ve over complicating it. It really is that easy, and as human beings, we should all be doing it.

Rolling Stone: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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If I was a parent, I like to think I would be less worried about Rolling Stone’s decision to put Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on their cover and more about bringing my kids up in a society so bereft of worthy, morally responsible authority figures that they’re forced to seek alternative heroes in unsuitable places, like the entertainment industry.

I’m not a parent though. So I probably won’t get involved.

Image via huffpost.