Walk, don’t run, to SlutWalk Milwaukee
Not pictured: SlutWalk
Since sifting through dull newspapers, hyperbolic blogs, and overflowing RSS feeds for meaningful news can be an arduous process, News Net catches and compiles both the amusing and the significant reports that were overlooked throughout the week.
• The city was caught up in SlutWalk fever this week, after a local woman announced plans to organize the provocatively-named demonstration in Milwaukee. When the Journal Sentinel wasn’t busy making “flash mob” cracks, it explained that the event was recently born in Toronto after a police officer told a classroom of college-aged women that dressing “like sluts” would inevitably lead to sexual assault. (Memo to the police officer in question: Boo!!!)
Of course, the story brought out some of the Journal Sentinel’s best and brightest commenters. (Ain’t no real-name-requirements gonna keep these commenters down!) Some of our favorites:
“Rape is wrong obviously, but give me a break. I work in an office where anytime a female co-worker bends over I have to turn away so I don’t feel like a sleaze. There’s cleavage and thongs popping out all over. If you want to protest something, what happened to equal pay for equal work?”
“Some of those girls in that photo are quite safe from being raped. Look at the fatty on the left, has a head as wide as a bus stop bench, imagine the rest of her!”
• Milwaukee’s answer to Russ Meyer, Frankie Latina, is set to direct a film called Skinny Dip, says the Hollywood Reporter. The film will star Pam Grier, Michael Madsen, Brigitte Nielsen, Danny Trejo, and tireless porn star Sasha Grey. Latina’s last film, Modus Operandi, also featured Trejo, along with Milwaukeeans Mark Borchardt, Mark Metcalf, Andrew Swant, and Bobby Ciraldo.
• The Alterra at 2211 N. Prospect Ave. has installed the city’s first on-street bicycle parking corral, says Urban Milwaukee. Sounds great—we can’t imagine anyone who would have a problem with something as innocuous as on-street bicycle parking...
• JC Poppe of OnMilwaukee.com took a listen to a new track from local musician/producer LMNtlyst called “RAIN rain Go Away.”
• Last year, LMNtlyst collaborated with Pezzettino on her terrific Lub Dub album. The accordion-wielding ingenue recently performed a lovely rendition of “Falling Down” for BreakThru Radio’s Hear and There series.
• Starship EastSide (1661 N. Farwell Ave.) is set to close at the end of June, reports the Journal Sentinel. The longtime pseudo-goth shop is in the process of looking for a new location. In the meantime, all merchandise is 35 percent off.
• Still not convinced that “mixed martial arts” and “ultimate fighting” are anything other than dudes kicking each other in the nuts? Well, it’s time to broaden your horizons: The Ultimate Fighting Championship is coming to Milwaukee in August, says the Journal Sentinel.
• And now, your Ald. Bob Donovan quote of the week:
“What the hell are we gonna do with a bunch of hens?”
Yes, this week found the perpetually put-upon alderman tackling his most ridiculous case yet: urban chickens. The Journal Sentinel reports that the Milwaukee Common Council delayed action on a proposal that would allow so-called “urban farmers” to keep live chickens cooped up in their backyards. In a terrific piece of video from CBS 58, Donovan makes the case that Milwaukee has more pressing issues to address than urban farming. And, well, he’s got a point. You almost have to feel bad for the guy—he’s taken on public art, graffiti, the sensible folks at PETA, and now city-dwelling chickens. What’s next: noise complaints from jittery squirrels?
