Here we go! Hip hip hooray! I guess I’m in a cheery mood today. Maybe because it’s International Women’s Day? And Mardi Gras? Yes, those must be the reasons :) Also it’s…Bechdel Test Tuesday! For the newcomers, here’s a link to understand the concept of the my weekly meme.
I tried my very best last week to give Philip Roth a pardon with his book The Human Stain…but sorry! No cigar! This week, possibly the most famous science fiction novel of all-time is on trial. Will it survive the test? Let’s find out… 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
1. Does it have at least 2 women in it?
NO. Oh my goodness, it’s already over? One of the most remarkable books of the 20th Century doesn’t make it passed the first question?
Unfortunately the sci-fi genre has always been heavily dominated by and marketed towards men so I shouldn’t be too surprised. But it’s still sad. And on International Women’s Day of all days! But I can’t let it get me down. I haven’t read any Octavia Butler yet, so there’s hope. Who knows what is in store next week.
Tomorrow is International Women's Day...I can't believe I almost forgot! Especially seeing that this is the Centenary (that means the first time it was honored was way back in 1911). And even back then over one million men and women attended the rallies campaigning for women's rights. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.
This year the film star Daniel Craig (helped by his 007 co-star Dame Judy Dench) did a promotional spot for the event that I think you should all take a look at. It's really informative and makes me love those two actors even more:
As part of International Women's Day there is a Global IWD Arts Initiative. Since it's the Centenary the goal is to collect '100 Women, 100 Artworks' and '100 Women, 100 Stories.' Such a beautiful idea I thought. And since this is a literary blog I thought I'd point you in the direction to go check out some of the works compiled thus far: here are the different stories you can read. As you can see there is still a long way to go but their website has ways of promoting the project and contacting them and whatnot, if this is something you're interested in.
I also wanted to point everyone's attention to an article that was recently in the New York Times op-ed section. Books, Personally pointed it out to me and I thought I needed to pass it along to you all (at least I'm pretty sure this is the article she was talking about, if not let me know Books! but this is the one I found that caught my attention anyway). It's about the part of this whole Charlie Sheen saga that hasn't been talked about. Yes yes, he's gone off his rocker. Yes, he needs to go to rehab. Yes, he's very quotable right now. But no one is discussing his violence towards women Or if they are, they turn it into a humorous joke. Hahaha, he tried to kill his ex-wife. BUT she's kind of a whore so, who cares right? WRONG. So please, read this enlightening article by Anna Holmes (she writes for the feminist website Jezebel) called The Disposable Woman.
Here we go! Hip hip hooray! I guess I’m in a cheery mood today. Maybe because it’s International Women’s Day? And Mardi Gras? Yes, those must be the reasons :) Also it’s…Bechdel Test Tuesday! For the newcomers, here’s a link to understand the concept of the my weekly meme. 
