I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that you, gentle reader – like me, and like Kai – have too much stuff.

Once you’ve sorted and sifted, perhaps with the help of Kai’s Clutter Chronicles,  you’re probably left with a pile of things – clothes, books, toys, housewares, CDs – that you just don’t need or use anymore.   What do you do with it?

Don’t trash it just yet.  Besides the eco-green factor, there are plenty of non-profit organizations out there that can make great use of your unwanted, but still serviceable, possessions.  And for some of the stuff that’s broken or obsolete (like old iPods, cell phones and computer equipment), there are good ways to recycle it instead of dumping it your garbage can.  And, of course, let’s not forget that your charitable donations can help you reduce your tax bill!

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“Butterfly in the sky … “

I just learned that the last on-air broadcast of one of my favorite kids’ shows, Reading Rainbow, came to pass on August 28th.  For those of you who might not remember it,  Reading Rainbow has run on PBS since 1983, teaching children about the joy of reading.   New episodes actually stopped airing three years ago, in 2006, but the show lived on in reruns until August.  Now, after 26 Emmys and hundreds of books, it’s over.

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Just a few of the names who have signed the Free Roman Polanski Petition:

Woody Allen (ok, no shocker here), David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Demme, Stephen Frears, Wes Anderson (sniff), Pedro Almodovar (sniff sniff), Wong Kar Wai,  Adrien Brody (no!), Tilda Swinton (no no no!), Monica Bellucci, Gael Garcia Bernal, Penelope Cruz … and many, many others.

Some excerpts from the document itself:

“Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision. It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him … Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renown and international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom … Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – everyone involved in international filmmaking – want him to know that he has their support and friendship … If only in the name of this friendship between our two countries, we demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski.”

(And let’s not forget Harvey Weinstein, who wrote his own opinion piece in The Independent, claiming that “Whatever you think about the so-called crime, Polanski has served his time. A deal was made with the judge, and the deal is not being honored . . . This is the government of the United States not giving its word and recanting on a deal, and it is the government acting irresponsibly and criminally.”)  (OK, we always knew Harvey was a bastard to begin with.)

WTF???

I’m not going to get into all the sordid details again, but let me just say this:

So what if she looked 18 and has a terrible mother.   So what if the judge made a deal, and went back on it.  So what if the victim, now-fully-grown with children of her own, has moved on with her life.  So what if the case was “mishandled”, and so what if Mr. Polanski has spent the last 30 years suffering from guilt and international travel restrictions.  And most of all, SO WHAT if he’s a great director, if he’s famous, if he’s powerful, if he’s made some good movies, if he’s a kind and charming man, SO WHAT????

Are people crazy?

To paraphrase Chris Rock – this is like saying – Yeah, but did you see O.J. play against New England?

If Clive Owen’s name pops up on this petition I will really cry.

Now that autumn is here (well, almost) and a moderate level of swine-flu panic is starting to set in, we should point out just how cute microbes can actually be when, uh, magnified one million times and fashioned out of plush.  (What?)  I refer of course to ThinkGeek’s collection of Giant Plush Microbes … if fuzzy pink swine flu isn’t for you, maybe the aquatic-looking clap/gonorrhea critter, the lavender blob of  mono-kissing disease or perhaps the e coli virus.

Thank you, Onion, for this awesome video.

Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

Because it’s Monday, and it’s the last day of August, and everybody goes back to school/work/real life this week or next week … let’s kill 30 minutes or so with some more brainless entertainment.  Yeah.

I don’t what it is about San Francisco, but that fair city by the bay appears to be almost as troublesome, dating-wise, as New York.   A few weeks ago we had the Why There Are No Girls in San Francisco blog (worth another look, some entertaining new entries in here!) and today we have this story of the SF-based Linx professional matchmaking service and one of its (let hope atypical) clients, Peter Kuperman, a University of Pennsylvania grad and self-described Olympic hopeful runner/hedge fund manager/loft-owner who appears to have derived his dating and romantic philosophies from repeated viewings of Love Actually and The Bachelor (and the Penn alumni magazine).

Whatever your view, it’s a good accompaniment to your morning coffee.  Enjoy!

So after watching yet another friend and colleague get laid off this morning, I need to say once again how much I hate this recession.  (Or maybe it’s the twisted mentality of corporate layoffs that I despise so much – but can we all agree that one leads to another?)

I will admit that a small, curmudgeonly side of me was (and still is) secretly relieved to have a reprieve from the Age of Excess that characterized much of this last decade.   Manhattan is as good a place as any to see this kind of thing in action. I’m talking gold martinis, 4-hour waits at overrated restaurants, insufferably rude sales staff and laughably high prices for just about everything, from a bottle of Poland Spring ($3) to, of course, real estate (the sky’s the limit!).   Nowadays, you can get a dinner reservation anywhere you like (as long as you can afford it), salespeople are actually nice, real estate prices have come down somewhat and the hottest food trend in town is to eat from street carts.

But the cold hard facts are that the city’s unemployment rate is somewhere around 10%.   The majority of my unemployed friends are fortunate enough to have some savings, some job prospects, and a strong support network, but what about everyone else?  It’s tough to make ends meet anyway, but when you’re supporting children, spouses, or perhaps a parent or two -  and you lose health benefits in addition to your paycheck … it’s enough to put many families  over the brink.   And the sad fact of the matter is that people who are just barely making it are so often the ones who lose out first, and most painfully.  Which brings me to the sheer irrationality of corporate layoffs.  Why do companies eliminate dozens of low-level employees making < $50k a year, in order to save the equivalent of a few first-class plane tickets?

It seems like the people who don’t have safety nets are the ones who most often need them, be it a retirement account or advanced education or even just a rainy day account and good health habits.   And I know I’m not writing anything  new here; all this ground has been covered many times, and much more eloquently, by columnists and social observers of every stripe.

It just sucks, that’s all.   To all of you with safety nets, be thankful!  And to those of you who are job-hunting, best of luck.  I hope some good opportunities come your way very soon.

A Wedding Dress, believe it or not.

Proving that reality TV participants do not have a monopoly on embarrassing ploys for celebrity, Reuters reports that a bride in northeastern China recently got married in a 1.2-mile-long wedding dress (with 9,999 silk red roses attached).  The idea apparently came from the groom’s wish to break the Guinness World Record for longest wedding dress (1.5km or 0.9 miles, held by a bride in Romania).

?????????

The dress took three hours for guests to roll out (now there’s a fun wedding activity) and cost $5,856, which – granted – is actually not completely out of range for certain American wedding dresses but GIVE ME A BREAK!!  Do people really not have anything better to do with their time and money?   And this is China, where $5,856 dollars could probably buy food for the entire wedding party, their guests, and their families for a year.

All of which makes me want to call up CCTV and suggest that they launch a Chinese version of Bridezillas.

Friday is here again.  THANK GOD.  Need we say more.

Here’s your dose of snarky, hilarious goodness to kick off the weekend …

Someone should start a variant for NYC!  Any singles (or otherwise) out there want to give it a shot?

So if you haven’t noticed, a few of us here at Femmeiniste are, um, obsessed with Mad Men.  (If you don’t know what that is by now, there’s nothing I can do for you, I’m sorry.)   So imagine our squeals when we hear that Sesame Street, another one of our favorites, is doing their own personal tribute to Mad Men this season — eeeee!!  This marriage of the perennial gold standard in children’s programming plus the BEST show currently on TV (well, season 3 starts on August 16) is sure to be awesome.  And now to add to the fun, Jezebel.com is offering up some Muppet casting suggestions here.

I especially like the Elmo-Pete Campbell concept – brill.  Be sure to read the comments, where one particularly witty contributor has submitted her own vision of what the episode will be like – CTW, are you listening?

For another fabulous pop culture –> Mad Men tribute – be sure to check out Homer Simpson-as-Don here …

And let’s remember, Sesame Street has a long and distinguished history of clever parodies of hit TV series.  For examples, check out this, this, and this.   Love the citrus in eyeglasses!!