From the Mailbag

[trigger warning]

Shaker Yoav sends along this heinous bit of opining in the Marietta Daily Journal in which the columnist argues that a park frequented by gay men for verdant trysts should not enact a proposed dog ban because: "With a little instruction, dogs could be taught to severely dislike the gay lovers in Burruss and Wildwood and bite them in the fanny and do what City Council should have done years ago - chase them off to Atlanta where they belong. Assuming that works, we will then tell the canines that cell phone users are really just possums with bad attitudes. The dogs will take it from there and then maybe the rest of us can have a little peace and quiet in Glover Park." Email the editor.

Shaker C.L. Minou forwards this interview with the loathsome Karl Lagerfeld, in which he is asked to channel Coco Chanel and says: "I was never a feminist because I was never ugly enough for that." Oh, my aching sides.

Shaker IvyCeltress emails this piece about BookCrossing, "a free-book-tracking Web site where anyone can, as a brochure puts it, 'share your books with the world and follow their paths forever more!' Its fans can register a book, add a brief journal entry, then place it in a public spot. The hope is that someone else will pick it up, record their find online and pass it on—becoming a link in a long chain of serendipitous literary discoveries."

Shaker Lindsay sends this thoughtful piece by a Lutheran about how the protests at the town halls could go, if they weren't totally rooted in self-interest.

Shaker Julia emails, with regard to the video game "Rapelay," about which I've written before: "The company who created Rapelay has now renamed the game's category." From the You Can't Make This Shit Up Files, the "rape" category has been renamed "Platinum Category," and the "sexual training" category (ugh) has been renamed the "Thoroughbred Category." Just barf. Times a thousand.

Shaker InfamousQBert emails that Britain is considering requiring disclaimers on advertisements in which models have been airbrushed.

Shaker Kathy_A forwards this piece found at Roger Ebert's place about the extraordinary Tilda Swinton and her traveling movie festival.

Shaker Rachel forwards this piece about the new ThinkB4YouSpeak ad campaign, which Rachel rightfully describes as "clueless" (the piece, not the ad campaign itself), as it seeks to excuse the use of "gay" as pejorative with classic lines like: "People use the word 'gay' in offhand ways not to disparage people, but as a slightly edgy synonym for 'lame'." lolsob.

Shaker Julia also sends this item which reports that Kirstie Alley is (quite rightly) pissed about a tabloid story claiming she may only have four years to live because she's overweight: "Alley writes on her Twitter.com page, 'I wonder if Kevin James, John Goodman, Alec Baldwin, James Gandolfini, K-Fed, Bill Shatner, etc are dying in four years or only Fat actresses'."

Which brings us to this NYT article sent by Shaker CassieC, about (as CassieC describes) "how it's now cool for men to be fat(ter) because spending time at the gym is such an unmanly girl thing to do. Also, it might be gay. Actual honest-to-goodness quote: 'Leading with a belly is a male privilege of long standing, of course, a symbol of prosperity in most cultures and of freedom from anxieties about body image that have plagued women since Eve.' (Subtext: give up, feminist bitchez! Sexist double standards are ETERNAL!)"