Crafty Lady

My Knight's Tale project wouldn't be complete without a little cross-crafting. For my Etsy shop, I got the idea to make some cards inspired by heraldry, which is a prominent part of Jocelyn's awesome felt coat. I plan on making my own coat of arms coat (hehe) when I find the perfect jacket or sweater to embroider or paint, (obvi still in development) so I have been doing a little preliminary research on the Shaw coat of arms. Lots of options between the Scottish, English and Irish versions (What can I say? My people are mutts.) Some wolves, some cup looking things and also a really scary looking fist holding a dagger. Annnnnyway, the search made me wonder if there were any ridiculous crest animals, so I though I'd make my own sets, starting with the Puffin:

Alcidae is apparently the family name for Puffins (English teacher who blatantly Wikipedias over here), which I thought would be a nice little joke. Next on the list I am thinking hedgehogs, bunnies and maybe a Pomeranian? Or Dachsund? Any other suggestions?

Also, go check out my Etsy shop and notice how everything is in pink gouache, cause I can only afford white and red and also this ish lasts forever.

Ombre nails

This was just another A Knight's Tale inspired DIY project, but a quick one. Purple ombre seems like a pretty en pointe inspo considering the color pallete of the movie plus the whole dip dye obsession. So in  an inspired procrastination move, I painted my nails. The bottom coat is called "Storm" and I have no idea what the brand is, as it is one that ganked from my mom and is so old it's lost label. Top coat is OPI, but that color sticker is missing. (My nail polish citation is a real mess).  The background is the awesome wallet E bought on Etsy for me (so awesome that it was RUN OVER WITH A CAR and all my stuff was completely okay)

Ha ha, Jessica Simpson is dumb.

Okay, I feel conflicted about this post, because one of my biggest critiques of Jezebel is that I HATE how a blog that aims to serve a no-nonsense critique of pop culture through a feminist lens (usually successfully) occasionally, conflictingly, tears women down. Case in point from the February 8th Dirt Bag Section:

"Everyone's friend and Dionne's totally on-and-off boyf Donald Faison says that his pregnant wife Cacee Cobb and her pregnant best friend Jessica Simpson think that having their wombs full of cells at the same time is so fetch. 'Imagine if you and your best friend were pregnant at the same time – Cacee's loving it. They hang out all the time anyway, but now they hang out and talk baby stuff, look at baby stuff online, and go shopping for baby stuff together.' A nice break from their usual chats about nuclear fission. "

Months before, a different section of the blog ran the story "Former Us Weekly Editor has some Nerve being Pissed about the Post Baby Body Obsession," which pointed out the hypocrisy in former editor Janice Min's stance on the harsh discussion of women's bodies when she herself made a living on photographs of these women (Simpson is cited by name as one of Min's victims). What strikes me as interesting here is that this article's stance is to defend Simpson's female body against ridicule, while the Dirt Bag gossip dig targets her intellectually. 

I get it, different writers, different rhetorical purposes, and it is just a joke. But at the same time, a site that writes incredible critiques of the wearying, unfunny and CONSTANT barrage of jokes that rely on tired, old stereotypes (feminists are unfunny, guys like boobs, ::ahem:: blondes are dumb) should try and avoid the pitfalls of making them. 

I, by the same token, will try to avoid a similar pitfall of mocking Jezebel in a mean-spirited, self-serving way, (the post label Jezehell not withstanding) but will instead try and critique some of the more problematic aspects of the blog. I think this joke at Simpson's expense is one such problematic moment, in which a closing zinger feels both catty and completely unnecessary and undermines some fo the great work that Jezebel does offer those folks in the middle of the pop culture and feminism venn diagram.