tamponblog

From Grist Magazine (online environmental news, humor, and commentary):

Pad Influence: On composting feminine products

But on to menstruation! What's not to love about the discarded uterine lining? Pair that with composting, and we've got a one-two combination sure to be a hit at every dinner party from Seattle to Waterbury. If people say, "What's new?" you say, "I'm experimentally composting endometria." They'll have no idea what you are talking about.

While I'm at it, here's the same advice column's run-down on environmentally responsible feminine products. Nothing new here for long-time tamponblog readers, but just in case you can't get enough of the Keeper:

Menstruation Innovation: On that time of the month

I've been adoring this season's all-woman-anchored Saturday Night Live Weekend Update. My favorite SNL skit of the season so far was in the October 29 episode (Lance Armstrong):

And now, it’s time for our “Weekend Update” Bitch Fight News Quiz.

[Music Over: “I Know What Boys Like,” The Waitresses]

[Show title graphic. Dissolve back to the “Weekend Update” desk]

Alright, so of course you all know how this works. I read Amy a quote, and she has to guess whether it is Lindsay Lohan talking about Paris Hilton, or New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd talking about fellow New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Alright, ready Amy?

Amy Poehler: Yeah, let’s do this! [dramatic music plays in the background]

Tina Fey: Alright, Quote #1: “She came up and told me to get out of her seat, and it was such an outrageous move, I just had to laugh.”

Amy Poehler: OK, I’m gonna say that’s Lindsay Lohan talking about Paris Hilton at Fashion Week. [buzzer]

Tina Fey: No, that was Maureen Dowd writing about Judith Miller, in the venerable New York Times.

Amy Poehler: OK.

Tina Fey: Quote #2: “I often wonder what Evelyn Waugh or William Makepeace Thackeray would have thought of her.”

Amy Poehler: Uh, Maureen Down on Judith Miller? [buzzer]

Tina Fey: No. Weirdly enough, that was Lohan talking about Paris Hilton.

Amy Poehler: Wow!

Tina Fey: She’s a reader. #3: “She thinks she’s so great, ‘cause she has a pink razor phone.”

Amy Poehler: Oh I’ve read this one. Maureen Dowd. [ding] Yeah, she hates that.

Tina Fey: Correct. Maureen Dowd, in an Op/Ed piece on Judith Miller. Quote #4: “I hear that one time, she had sex with Moammar Kadaffi.”

Amy Poehler: Wow, this one could go either way. I’m gonna say, Maureen Dowd? [buzzer]

Tina Fey: No, that was a trick question. That was actually Paris Hilton, talking about Paris Hilton.

Amy Poehler: OK, she does that a lot.

[display title graphic once again]

Don Pardo V/O: This has been “Weekend Update’s” Bitch Fight News Quiz. When bitches be fighting, “Weekend Update” is there.

Amy Poehler: Thank you, Don.

Full Weekend Update transcript.

This came right on the heels of Rachel Dratch's impression of Harriet Miers, in a skit that made me feel my first sympathy for Miers. Sure, they portrayed her as drunk and a shameless exploiter of the crony system, but they had one excellent point:

Miers: But then I thought, you know what? Wait a second. A man wouldn’t second guess himself like this! I mean, Donald Rumsfeld never says, 'Hey! I can’t be Secretary of Defense! I’ve never even served in the Army!' Right? Porter Goss doesn’t say, 'I can’t run the CIA! I don’t have any intelligence experience!' [some applause] And Mike Brown didn’t say, 'Hey, I can’t run FEMA! I’m the head of the Arabian Horse Society, for pete’s sake!' I mean, we’re ALL unqualified! Why am I the only one who has to admit it?

Just when I think it's time to stop watching SNL. . .

I'll post more on Maureen Dowd soon. I want to respond to the feminist blog critiques of the NY Times Magazine excerpt of her new book, but first I want to do something a little unconventional, and actually read the book.