Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
Tonight on Medium Cool – in honor of National Women’s Day on March 8 – can we celebrate the creativity of women and their contributions to culture and art?
We can come at this from all sorts of directions.
- Whether women’s contributions to culture and art are erased in the same way contributions by anyone other than “the right kind of white men” have often been erased, for instance.
- We can talk about all the women who had to hide behind male pseudonyms, and about how that is changing.
- We can talk about the various female writers, directors, actors, musicians. Artists, painters, sculptors. Performers, singers, dancers, choreographers. Writers, editors, poets, playwrights. Photographers and designers. And more the I haven’t named.
- We can talk about how women connect with other women through fabric art. Knitting, tatting, crocheting, quilting…
- We can talk about the role of women in passing down culture and tradition through generations.
- We can talk about women who teach us about culture.
- We can post links to interesting discussions of culture by and about women.
- We can post links to works of art – in any genre – created by women.
- We have all sorts of incredibly talented women right here on Balloon Juice. Don’t be shy – link to your own creations!
- Hell, this is Balloon Juice; we can even fight about the use of the word creatives.
Let’s get started!
Update: If this topic isn’t of interest, feel free to consider this one an open thread for all things culture related.
Omnes Omnibus
Somehow, I think this particular song fits here.
Steve in the ATL
Is this an inverse drag queen post?
Baud
I’ve been watching Poker Face and so far it’s a cross between Colombo and Murder She Wrote.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: I was told there would be no math.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: so it’s based on the Lady Gaga song? And yet somehow no one has made a movie based on Barry Manilow’s “at the copa”? What a twisted world we live in.
@Omnes Omnibus: math is a liberal art. You can do it!
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: Drag queens welcome!
WaterGirl
@Baud: Is that only available on Hulu?
Steve in the ATL
@WaterGirl: Omnes is already here
[confidential to Omnes: zing!]
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I use the Peacock app.
Suzanne
One sub genre I find interesting is the creativity shown in the “domestic arts” by women who had serious resource constraints. Quilting, for example, was a way to use scrap fabric, and now is essentially graphic design.
Don’t get me started on the dichotomy that “(white) men make art, women and indigenous people make crafts”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: I only did it once, and it was for a film.*
*This is literally true.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
https://g.co/kgs/jTEBuH
Another Scott
There was a story on Marketplace (I think it was) late last week on Barnes and Noble expanding again after nearly going under. It was mentioned that book sales were the highest on record last year, and another tidbit mentioned that women buy many more books than men…
Harriet Evans comment at TheBookseller.com:
(More at the link.)
What industry can ignore most of their customers and thrive??
Diversity is always a good thing, and over half of the population (women) being ignored for too long is holding us all back.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Right, Peacock not Hulu. Do you know if youhave to pay for Peacock if you have the corresponding TV channel on cable?
Steve in the ATL
@Suzanne: boxer shorts are a way for shirt makers to use extra fabric. So the Brooks brothers were essentially quilters.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I think this is a Peacock only show. You may have to pay for it.
Suzanne
@Another Scott:
The women’s clothing industry has been ignoring the literal majority of women in this country of decades because they’re over a size 14. Mind-blowing but true.
Omnes Omnibus
Patti Smith.
Baud
@Another Scott:
The NYT.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: hard to believe I didn’t take time out of my senior year of high school to watch that!
Omnes Omnibus
Grace Jones.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud:
[confidential to NYT: zing!]
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m waiting for Helen Reddy
WaterGirl
I added an update up top: If this topic isn’t of interest, feel free to consider this one an open thread for all things culture related.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: SUGGESTED TOPIC: Best Easter Candy!
Tim
@Omnes Omnibus: not linking but at the Dylan tribute when she bobbled “Hard Rain”, begged forgiveness like a child, and then just finished the job like a champ: realest and truest Live Moment ever. We all mess up. Just be Patti and finish the song. Actually, just be Patti always. G’night.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: That works!
Wyatt Salamanca
When it comes to literature, I love these two short stories and find these passages quite moving
A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett
http://www.sarahornejewett.org/soj/awh/heron.htm
Paul’s Case by Willa Cather
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/346/346-h/346-h.htm
Omnes Omnibus
Billie Eilish (not what you would expect).
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: She does a great job on that song! I would be tripping myself with that outfit, however.
I don’t remember her looking like that – have her looks changed or did I just have the wrong impression of her style before?
ruemara
I just did an interview for the Indie AF podcast about being a woman in podcasting, this morning. The biggest takeaway that I hope I conveyed is the people who are willing to listen & enjoy our work – say something. Share it. Compliment us with a good review. We hear so much criticism and outright hatreds of our presence, we get so little support to even create our own things – so few people giving us our props. I can definitely attest to this.
Anyway, I did a dramatic reading for a friend’s birthday of an Edward Gorey cartoon. Feel free to enjoy. Or not, I’m not the boss of you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Might be a long wait. Try this while you wait.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: She is no longer a teen.
Omnes Omnibus
Ronnie Spector.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Loved that.
Not what I expected when I saw “Garbage & Screaming Females”.
So it looks like Garbage is a band? So who are the screaming females?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I also didn’t remember dark hair. :: shrug ::
she’s all grown up
Brachiator
@Suzanne:
Reminds me of the canard that women cook, but only men are chefs.
zhena gogolia
Jane Austen and the Brontes were supreme artists. I guess that’s been noted.
Wyatt Salamanca
I believe these five women painters have been criminally underrated and underappreciated and deserve significantly greater recognition than they’ve received, so here’s my modest effort to get them more recognition.
Hilma af Klint
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWtB4svuK4s&t=2s
Leonora Carrington
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7iQG9oH8P8
Kay Sage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUI01NdRZQc
Dorothea Tanning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YrohEuINOw
Remedios Varo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIp0tWE_Q28
MagdaInBlack
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, that’s nice. Thank-you !
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Garbage is a band formed by three producer/musicians* from Wisconsin and singer Shirley Manson, a fierce redhead from Scotland. Screaming Females are a band from NJ fronted by Marissa Paternoster, the woman shredding the guitar.
*Among other things, Butch Vig, the drummer, produced Nirvana’s Nevermind.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: The Screaming Females link makes me think of The Ramones.
wonkie
@Another Scott: I’m an author. I think the biggest market for books is older women. I think there is also a market for books with younger women looking for strong female leads in adventure and sex, but mostly it’s older women.
Omnes Omnibus
The Regrettes.
kalakal
Mary Ann Evans aka George Elliot
Alice Bradley Sheldon aka James Tiptree Jr
“A male name seemed like good camouflage. I had the feeling that a man would slip by less observed. I’ve had too many experiences in my life of being the first woman in some damned occupation”
WaterGirl
@wonkie: Do you mean physical books or even ebooks?
Omnes Omnibus
Erykah Badu.
dibert dogbert
My mom must have been grooming me.
She taught me how to water color, crochet, sew button holes
delphinium
@ruemara: Enjoyed that dramatic reading very much-you have a great voice!
Omnes Omnibus
Big Mama Thornton.
Brachiator
I have always been interested in discovering the stories rarely told about women and people of color. One of the best was the 1981 BBC series Tenko, which ran for three seasons
Great cast, featuring Ann Bell and Louise Jameson.
Another film that comes to mind is Sandakan Number 8, about a Japanese “comfort woman” during WW2. The movie was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for 1975. It was also a commercial success. I found it to be very sad, but also very moving.
Wyatt Salamanca
Congratulations to Joni Mitchell for receiving the Gershwin Prize!
Twisted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vmq-DHQRF4
Chelsea Morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWDyA4S-geg
Big Yellow Taxi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bdMSCdw20
And some other great female performances
Sandy Denny Who Knows Where the Time Goes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oBMDcLf6WA
Laura Nyro Wedding Bell Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKzCspqGgQ
Laura Nyro Stoney End
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6diadP-g_7s
Another Scott
@Wyatt Salamanca: +1
We got a couple of tiny Remedios Varo prints after seeing a traveling exhibit on her work at the NMWA in DC. Just a startling inventive and talented artist.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
Tillie Olsen (1912-2007) wrote a very good book about the problems faced by women writers.
kalakal
Memphis Minnie – Kissing in the Dark blues
When the Levee Breaks
UncleEbeneezer
I’ve recently been obsessed with Elena Pinderhughes the flautist in Christian Scott aTunde Adjua’s amazing jazz band. It’s been really cool seeing more and more women featured in prominent jazz bands, which for many years were almost all men. You can check out her incredible solo (around the 2 minute mark) on New Heroes and on Ruler Rebel (also around the 2 min mark).
Wyatt Salamanca
@Another Scott:
That’s a perfect description of Remedios Varo’s work!
kalakal
Improvisation
The incredible Dame Evelyn Glennie
How to truly listen
oatler
The Roches
Yutsano
Not one mention of Dolly Parton yet? And here I thought I knew you people.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano:
I have been avoiding a number of the more obvious people on purpose.
citizen dave
Artist Laurie Lipton. I’ve been getting youtube recommendations of various artists’ works lately, and bit on this one. An extraordinary artist and has some things to say about the manipulation of us all (at least in the first world) in her recent work. Still alive and producing very interesting art. Also, if you like disturbing art she’s done that too.
The Bewitching Art of Laurie Lipton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrLrWBI5KfA
I will be investigating further…
NotMax
Mini mish-mash of ladies.
Snap yer fingers to The Puppini Sisters.
Feel the beat with Carmen Miranda.
Scene from Topsy-Turvy.
Bouncing along with The Andrews Sisters.
A rockin’ Mikado.
Right song, wrong audience. Funny!
NotMax
One more.
Smoo-oo-oo-ooth Tracy Nelson.
Splitting Image
Here is an interview with Cathy Guisewite, from after she ended the Cathy strip in 2010. She touches on how she got started and on being one of the few women in the industry at the time.
One thing mentioned in the interview that I think would get a few people’s dander up is that the difficulty marketing the strip at the beginning came from the fact that most strips were designed to appeal to everybody, but that a strip by a woman about women would “obviously” have a niche audience.
Touching on this afternoon’s thread, Charlie Schulz was an early fan of hers. She asked him how long it would take to stop fearing that she’d wake up one morning and discover that everyone hated the strip, all of the papers had canceled it, and it would all be over. “Ten years,” he told her.
Cathy is high on my list of strips that I would like to see collected properly. There are a lot of strips, especially from the early days, which have never been collected in paperback.
Nancy
@ruemara: speaking of appreciation: I felt so glad to be able to support your artist friend and his partner.
citizen dave
@UncleEbeneezer: Jazz Flute! Amazing, I’ve watched the first one so far–thanks so much for this.
UncleEbeneezer
@citizen dave: You’re welcome. Glad you like it. The whole band is ridiculously talented. I’ve been a fan since he was just “Christian Scott” (2015 or so) but we finally got to see them live, at the Bowl last Summer and they just killed it! Her chops are amazing and she has great tone/feel too.
Sure Lurkalot
Late late…I recently finished Pandora’s Jar, by Natalie Haynes, about women in Greek myths. I have a masters in classics and didn’t always buy her takes, but she incorporates art, contemporary media and the different versions among ancient sources. It’s a great exploration of women’s motivations and a society’s misogyny from passion and fear. 10 women, including Helen, Medea, Eurydice….
citizen dave
I will check more out–been listening to quite a bit of jazz these last few years–and the XM Jazz channel.
PJ Harvey is my favorite–here’s a cool performance of Working for the Man, apparently the first performance in 21 years since it was a new song on the awesome To Bring You My Love album. 2016, PJ Harvey in France: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2wirccKaOo
Matt McIrvin
@ruemara: Loved it.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Do you have any other Peacock recommendations?
Mr. Bemused Senior
@ruemara: very nice, one of my favorites.
raven
Composing a Life
raven
You Don’t Belong Here
Elizabeth Becker
NotMax
If you’ve got access to Netflix and haven’t already done so, check out Pretend It’s a City.
Ooh, switching gears to one more and different movie clip, a hairsbreadth away from over the top. That Henry Fielding, what a rascal.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus:
My friend from Madison is a co-author.
VFX Lurker
Random thoughts on women writers…
It may be years before I can read Margaret Storey’s works. A writer I love (Neil Gaiman, I think) once praised Margaret Storey’s Timothy and Two Witches (1974) and her other books. However, they’re out-of-print, and my local library does not have them. If I want to read them, they’ll be anywhere from $50-90 each. I’m curious about these books, but not curious enough to pay that price. I hope that modern eBooks will make it less likely for good books like this to go out-of-print.
I recently listened to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (1959), read beautifully by Bernadette Dunne. Jackson did a great job in her portrayal of Eleanor Vance, a woman without hope, home or loving family. Eleanor’s profound isolation and loneliness rival any horror in that horrible Hill House. Bernadette Dunne delivers a first-rate performance. My library also has an audiobook adaptation of the same book performed by actor David Warner, so I’ll listen to that soon.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven:
God, Catherine Leroy. I haven’t heard that name in ages. She had to be weighted down to be heavy enough for her parachute to function properly when she jumped with the 173d.
NotMax
Smithsonian short outline of Grandma Moses.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Crazy, the only combat jump in the war (it was a pretty secure area but still). For me the pictures she took on 881 are even more intense than her jump.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: Damn.
ruemara
@Nancy: Thank you and all juicers so, so much. I was worried about them.
schrodingers_cat
Women directors in Hindi cinema, Marathi theater
Vijaya Mehta: (Lifeline, Raosaheb, Smriti Chitre)
Sai Paranjpye (Chasme Badoor, Sparsh)
Of a more recent vintage:
Meghana Gulzar (Raazi)
Zoya Akhtar (Gully Boy and Made in Heaven)
This from the top of my head.
NotMax
Something a little different: LGBTQ Queens, Princesses & Duchesses.
Manyakitty
@Suzanne: follow that up with men are scientists, women are witches. That was my dissertation topic, had my PhD program not been a gigantic dumpster fire.
Manyakitty
@ruemara: I have a framed print of that on my wall. Been known to use Ogdred Weary as a nym, too. The Bug Book is oddly relevant today.
prostratedragon
Gee, tgat was a good nap …
Woman composers in classical music, of all eras, have been getting big push for several years now. Two of many contemporaries:
“Starburst”, Jessie Montgomery, composer-in-residence, Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
“Lies You Can Believe In,” Missy Mazzoli, previuos CIR/CSO.
kalakal
Anything a man can do…
Genevieve de Galard
l’ange de Dien Bien Phu
General Valerie Andre – French resistance veteran and combat surgeon, flew 129 medevac missions and 2 combat jumps in Vietnam 1952 – 3. In Algeria 365 war missions. She’s still going, age 100
General Andre
kalakal
Rosalind Franklin – “the wronged heroine of DNA”
Rosalind Franklin
stinger
@ruemara: Wow! Fantastic! Especially the non-verbal ending!
prostratedragon
Adoration,” Florence Price.
“Three Dream Portraits,” Margaret Bonds, from poems by her friend Lanston Hughes.
“Sous bois,” Lili Boulanger.
“Verdala,” Hannah Kendall.
“Hasta cuando?,” Gabriela Montero.
The Oracle of Solace
I’m currently in a play about the Harvard Computers, women employed at the Harvard Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries whose analyses produced discoveries foundational to modern astronomy: Willamina Fleming, who catalogued the spectra of thousands of stars; Annie Jump Cannon, whose stellar classification system is still in use today; Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who discovered one of astronomy’s most important standard candles in the Cepheid variables. By sheer coincidence, I vlogged about some of these ladies last summer.
For that matter, my own video creation—a mismatched-roommate situation comedy with history lectures—lives on YouTube.
AM in NC
@Another Scott: I have a friend who is a romance author. Writes independent books and is a writer for Harlequin. EVEN within romance, women over 45 are discounted. My friend was told that nobody wants to read about women of a certain age falling love and having sexual relationships. My friend was like, do you KNOW who reads your product?
This is a big topic among romance writers, most of whom are not 26 years old. They know their audience, and they know that audience wants to read at least some stories about women in the second half of their lives. But even many female editors have been captured by the belief that romance is only appropriate for women of child-bearing age. After that, women should be appropriately invisible, and certainly not be shown engaging in any kind of sexual behavior. Icky, amirite?
donnah
@Suzanne: My art is hooked wool rugs. Many similar comparisons to quilting, where women made do with old fabric to make useful items. The rug hookers used old wool garments cut up into strips and pulled with a hook through burlap or flour sacks in patterns or simply at random.
Now women buy new fabric to make their quilts and whille many rug hookers use rescued wool garmets for their fabric, most of us buy wool off the bolt and dye it ourselves.
The twist comes when we present our work as art rather than a handcraft. My work is detailed, tells a story, and takes hours of work to complete. And I present it as such, with shows in galleries and publication. I’m proud of my work and I want to be respected for it.