Sarah Akhtar

Photo

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:01:16 -0400

The Tree of Life I love this movie so much. I know a lot of...

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:00:30 -0400

The Tree of Life

I love this movie so much. I know a lot of people hated it, but just give it a chance. It was so beautiful and moving. This is one of my favorite scenes. Makes me cry every single time.

That awkward moment when you don't understand what someone said, so you just laugh and hope it wasn't a question

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:19:00 -0400

most-awkward-moments:

Studies show that this blog develops ab muscles due to excessive laughter.

oh damn. this definitely happens more than 15x a day.

most-awkward-moments: Studies show that this blog develops ab...

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:18:47 -0400

most-awkward-moments:

Studies show that this blog develops ab muscles due to excessive laughter.

b0ld3rama: Late Night Car Conversations Dennison (referring to...

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:17:53 -0400

b0ld3rama:

Late Night Car Conversations

Dennison (referring to these GIFs): It sounds racist, but it’s actually quite humorous.

Me: Yeah, like Mein Kampf.

thebeardguy: I have a really important announcement to make to you guys.

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:17:02 -0400

thebeardguy:

I have a really important announcement to make to you guys.　

Interviewer: Give me the argument, the best argument you know,...

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:15:00 -0400

Interviewer: Give me the argument, the best argument you know, for the power of cinema.

Quentin Tarantino: Oh gosh, you know one of the things about cinema that I just find very moving, it’s why it’s my favorite art form, is when you go to a movie and you see a certain sequence, and if there is real cinematic power and there’s cinematic flare. There are certain filmmakers that you feel were touched by God to make movies and it would be a combination of editing and sound, usually it’s like visual images connected with music or something, but when those things work and they really connect…it’s just like you forget to breathe. You are really transported to a different place. Music doesn’t quite do that on it’s own, novels don’t quite do it, & a painting doesn’t quite do it. They do it their way but with cinema, especially if you’re in a theatre and you’re sharing the experience with a bunch of other people so it’s this mass thing going on…it’s just truly, truly thrilling.(x)

that’s exactly it!

Photo

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:41:22 -0400

Tom Hiddleston reads Bright Star by John Keats Bright star,...

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:37:09 -0400

Tom Hiddleston reads Bright Star by John Keats

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

Photo

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:36:35 -0400

death-by-paint-inhalation:

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:35:05 -0400

death-by-paint-inhalation:

quotidianafollia: Aww i gatti.

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:34:18 -0400

quotidianafollia:

Aww i gatti.

When you leave the bar and there are no cabs anywhere in sight

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:33:35 -0400

whatshouldwecallme:

When I'm helping my skinny friend pick out an outfit

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:32:58 -0400

whatshouldwecallme:

moviesinframes: Waking Life, 2001 (dir. Richard Linklater)By...

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:31:57 -0400

moviesinframes:

Waking Life, 2001 (dir. Richard Linklater)

By MizarAlcor

So philosophical.

fuckyeahxicanapower: “The Ovarian-Psycos Bicycle Brigade Make a...

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:34:44 -0400

The Ovas at Olvera Street in protest.

The Ovas end one of their bi-weekly meet

fuckyeahxicanapower:

“The Ovarian-Psycos Bicycle Brigade Make a Space for Women on the Eastside

Two months ago, when 22-year-old Bree’Anna Guzman was murdered in Lincoln Heights, the all-women bike group Ovarian-Pscyos Bicycle Brigade scrapped their previously planned ride to ride instead through the neighborhood to protest the killing.

“Whose Streets,” one woman called out.

“Our Streets” the more than 30 women riding answered.

While many recent bike groups are either bicycling for recreation, bringing awareness to bicyclists on the road, or use the bicycle for social justice movement events, the Ovarian-Psycos Bicycle Brigade is a community inspired women’s movement that does all of the above and then some.

In Los Angeles, fewer than 1 in 5 people cycling were female, according to preliminary data from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition’s most recent bicycle count. While this trend has been the constant in cities across the nation, the number of female bicycle groups in Los Angeles has grown from just a couple a few years ago, to at least four.

The currently all-Latina collective with roots from various parts of the Eastside pride themselves with their exclusivity to women, with sticker slogans like “Ovaries so big, we don’t need no fucking balls.” Their monthly all-women Luna Rides, which takes its name from the moons connection with a woman’s menstrual cycle, bring up to 30 women riders each ride. For their two-year anniversary in July, the Ovarian-Psycos are also planning the first female version of the monthly Critical Mass, which will be called Clitoral Mass.

For many of the women it’s their first time being involved in an all-female collective. The oldest members are 33 and the youngest is 20. Some are artists that ride bikes, and some are pure bicyclists. Yet the Ovarian-Psycos has become a type of sisterhood that, for many, they have never had before.

“Being around women, learning that we can interact in a way that was not hostile or competitive; it’s been a very new experience,” said Magally “Maga” Miranda.

Though the group has found stability recently, the group’s continued existence was never a sure bet. On the very first Luna Ride in July 2010, Xela, the de facto leader of the group at the time, hit a pothole on the road and fell face forward off her bike, hospitalizing her for two weeks. Andrea Ramirez, or “La Blackbird,” recalls that many bike riders didn’t come back after the first ride because they were scared.

Though one half left, and another came back for the second Luna Ride, Xela said, the group stagnated for the first year, never topping more than 20 riders.

“I was worried always that it’s going to die someday,” Xela said.

Yet, right before the Ovarians one-year anniversary, Xela started to recruit core members to better organize the group. After the one-year anniversary at Solidarty ink, and with a fairly consistent 12 core members, the group finally started to take off. Like before, each ride had a theme. Specific workshops involved speakers, and teachers on a range of social issues, and bicycle issues. Some workshops talked about women’s health, while other covered self-defense. Yet, the groups were getting bigger, and the core members were helping spread the word.

Many of the women say they feel they are not taken seriously in the biking community because their rides aren’t as long as traditional rides, there are usually many first-time riders, and the ride will stop and wait for one person. But, these limitations, Ova member Natalie Fraire said, can be a positive.

“We are encouraging a lot more riders and that’s more important,” said Fraire.

Riding as a women group has also made the riders more aware of the difficulties of riding in the city as a woman. Individually, or in small groups, Ova Elvira “Ashes” Arvizo has been catcalled by men on the street, and during one Luna Ride, the group noticed a male motorist was trailing the group. The women stopped and started to yell at the motorist, which caused him to flee.

Creating Sisterhood

As the group has grown, the women have needed to get closer. Many of their biweekly meetings resemble the chaos of a family dinner. At a recent meeting, Maryann “La Fingers” Aguirre would belch across the room, giving many of the girls a laugh, and Fraire ran to the oven to find she burned the artichoke dish brought. If the meeting ever got out of order, a clit checker (meeting organizer) would bellow out a warning to get the meeting back on track.

Each Ova have brought various skills in community organizing, photography, graphic design and bike mechanics which they also share with the rest of the group. Gloria “GLoTography” Vasquez takes most of the photos that are on the groups websites, but she has also taken the time to teach Ovas like Fraire how to use a camera. The group has also helped Vasquez to break her shyness and talk more with women on rides.

“Now run into women across streets and able to converse with them than just pass them by,” said Vasquez.

Each season there are rotating leaders of the group called a left and right ovary, and many of the women are expected to step up to take care of a portion of their work.

Many of the women have never ridden with an all female bike crew, and let alone worked with an all-women group. Yet, the same reason Xela started the group is the same reason the women joined: they couldn’t connect with the rides already in LA.

Andrea “La Blackbird” Ramirez said she could never get comfortable riding with the Midnight Ridazz because men always outnumbered women. Aside from men outnumbering women during Critical Mass, Arvizo said will leave riders behind, and that can deter a young woman-rider to join a ride.

The Ovas offer a space for women, Xela said. And the rides though recreational, can become extremely personal, with some events bringing women to tears. During a stop on their ride that was themed on domestic violence, many women came forward about their experiences.

The personal nature of the rides, and the already numerous LA bike rides is the reason Xela said, why it’s exclusive to women.

“It’s just a time for women. If they are trying to open up, won’t be comfortable opening up if there are men around,” said Aguirre.

Xela, whose been a part of women collectives that have never lasted, said she knew the Ovarian-Pscyos was a different type of all woman collective at the one-year anniversary. Jocelyn “Joss the boss” Hernandez brought a cake she made and designed to the group at the end of an interview at the Boyle Heights online radio station Centro de Comunicación Comunitaria. The cake had a symbol of a car with a slash over it.

“You do that for your sister, your best friend, and she did this for the Ovas. “That’s nice”

For more information on the Ovarians, send an email to ovarian.psycos@gmail.com or go to their website at ovarianpsycos.com.

Thought a lot of you would enjoy this article.

myampgoesto11: WINNERS OF THE 2012 SCOTCH OFF THE ROLL TAPE...

Mon, 14 May 2012 01:23:28 -0400

myampgoesto11:

WINNERS OF THE 2012 SCOTCH OFF THE ROLL TAPE SCULPTURE CONTEST

Photo

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:21:50 -0400

thedailywhat: Early Bird Special: Ashton Kutcher’s racist...

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:30:35 -0400

thedailywhat:

Early Bird Special: Ashton Kutcher’s racist brownface spot for Popchips — which ultimately was pulled last week for being racially insensitive — gets a clever annihilation from comedian Hasan Minhaj, of Goatface sketch group fame.

[bestweekever]

I remember the days I could walk into a final without studying and do great. Holy fuck, growing up...

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:19:07 -0400

I remember the days I could walk into a final without studying and do great. Holy fuck, growing up is way too scary.