Another movie I (and the Kid) have to see

Kid and I both loved the awesome Hit Girl in Kick Ass. There may not be enough kick ass action hero women in film, but there are more and more kick ass action hero girls in film (see also the movie Let the Right One In).

In that vein- Kid and I must see this. Cate Blanchet as evil government agent. Kick ass girl child trained as an assassin. The preview looks sooooooooo good.



Kid says that The Hunger Games, which is also be made into a movie, was pretty good. So 2 movies we have to see.

About those 51 million poor people who will be worse off under the new tax plan.

I am one of those people. And since I am all about sharing just how hard this poverty shit is with you all, I am now going to break down my tiny income and taxes for you all. It's a huge taboo in this country, to talk honestly about your own money. So you all might understand if I'm feeling a bit squeamish. It's a bit of social programming I am trying to break.

Last year my adjusted gross income was $5963

My tax refund (including the earned income tax credit plus the $400 Making work pay credit, minus 15.2% in employment taxes for blogging income) was $1823

This year (so far) my income is $4930. If the schedule for the earned income tax credit stays the same (they haven't published 2010 yet) then my refund is $1675 before I pay employment taxes. And because I am considered self-employed (like many of the disemployed who are selling whatever they've got in order to get by) I am responsible for all of those taxes.

So $1675-749 (15.2%of 4930) is $926. Or about half of 2009's refund.

Now before anyone gets all cranky pants about how much of a refund I get compared to how tiny my income is- I would LOVE to be in a tax bracket where I am no longer eligible for the earned income tax credit. That bracket is $35,000 a year for a single parent with one kid. If you know of a job like that- pass it on.

Of course if I were in the Million plus club, the average tax benefit under the new tax plan is about $139,000, or enough to pay for 4 $35,000 jobs. But that's not where it's going to go, is it?

Hey Aeryl! MOVIE!!!!

I have to see this!!!!

1) Aung San Suu Kyi!!! I am a sucker for political dramas. Burma, military juntas, activism and resistance. Yep.

2) Michelle Yeoh!!!! I think she's the perfect choice to play Aung San Suu Kyi. She's totally got the "I can still kick your ass when I'm broken hearted" thing down. And I love that.

3) directed by Luc Besson!!! (who did not sign the "it's ok to rape children if you're Polanski petition) Also directed the Professional.

This is going to rock, hard.

Just let me see if I can find my tiny violin...

Some banksters aren't getting a bonus in their Christmas stocking. Poor dears. Their salaries have been doubled in the past 2 years to compensate, but the poor "Zeros" are facing psychological trauma by receiving their ill gotten gains in their regular paychecks instead of the fat, end of year bonus checks.

My heart breaks. My soul is crushed in empathy. As a poor, homeless single mother, I know the pain of trying to live off $200,000 or $500,000 a year. Why we have had to settle on the standard trash can fire for warmth, instead of this high-end, designer trash can.



It's the Christmas season. Can't we all spare a moment to think of the banksters? Do they know it's Christmas time at all if they aren't getting their bonus checks?


(FWIW- I find this whole song terribly offensive. Why on earth would non-Christians know when Christmas is? Do you know when Ramadan is? Ah colonialism, happily spread by 80's pop stars under the guise of charity)

Words mean things

Have you all played with Google's word tracker thingy yet?

What is does is counts the number of instances a word is used in all the books Google currently has scanned from the last 108 years or so, and then delivers the percentages.

The chart of the words racism and sexism, for anyone playing oppression olympics. ( Ableism and kyriarchy are barely nudges if you include them as well, though homophobia gets a slightly smaller but similar curve to sexism). I find it very interesting that the more politics is written about, the less often corruption is. And perhaps some of our handwringing over dreadful poor people while ignoring that ever widening wealth divide has to do with how little the wealthy are actually written about?

So peeps, what words are you checking out?

And how was your Friday?

The Kid and I spent our Friday afternoon in the office of child protective services thanks to the lovely stalker.

After long individual interviews with each of us, the social worker called me back in to say that the Kid is an awesome kid and that she is closing the case as it was completely unfounded. We joked about how CPS should really stand for "Creates Panic Syndrome". We also discussed the strain that the stalker is putting on the Kid by putting him in the middle of this shit, but of course the stalker would never see it that way. It would totally fuck with the stalker's world view that zie is not the awesome heroic savior to acknowledge that zie causes damage.

But case closed, completely unfounded, Kid is an awesome kid.

Afterwards we met up with the amazing Amanda Panda who took us out for the best tacos in the city (Barracuda in Queen Anne). I had 2 sangrias with dinner, which is enough to send me straight to bed. Kid had a coke with real sugar. And now we are back to our end the crappy campaign.

Let's Get Festive!!!!

Continuing the theme of no more crappy- here's some favorite Christmas songs.

The Waitresses- Christmas Wrapping



The Ramones- Merry Christmas I don't want to fight tonight with you



The Pogues and the late, great Kristy Maccoll- Fairytale of New York (warning- this song contains at least one homophobic slur)



The Kinks- Father Christmas



ETA

The Hives & Cindi Lauper (I just found this song and FUCK YEAH CINDI LAUPER)


Okay okay okay, one more (I can't seem to stop. I've been possessed by the Christmas spirit. Oh shit. Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Bob Marley & The Wailers- White Christmas