FWIW

Did we miss it again? Nominations for the Canadian Blog Awards are seemingly open. Or are they?

The copy says that nominations were opened early this year (date of blogpost is August 18) and will close in September, no specific date given.

But I managed to nominate a couple of blogs in the dreaded feminism yesterday.

We'll see, I guess.

And the winners are. . .

After having pumped the 2011 Canadian Blog Awards (and spurred/shamed by Beijing York's congrats), we should report on the winners.

Which did ^NOT include DJ! *sob* (We came in second and third in the two categories we were up for.)

None of our nominations/freeping efforts pals won either, except for the always excellent Slap Upside the Head, who bested the LGBT category again. That makes for umpty-zillion wins and I think his blog gets some kind of Lifetime Achievement award and is henceforth not eligible, opening up the competition to others.

I'm not sure the number of votes cast have been published before, but these don't seem very impressive. The most votes were in the Best Overall category -- 314.

Are blogging awards 'over'?

Seems commenter and co-blogger Mandos thinks so.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who voted. And special thanks to our pals.

Shameless Self-Promotion: Canadian Blog Awards 2011

Just a reminder: The Canadian Blog Awards final round voting is on.

DAMMIT JANET! is pleased that we made the cut in two categories: feminism and collaborative/multi-author.

In a way, I'm not terribly surprised by the feminism category. After all, we here at DJ!, as well as several other good bloggers, had been bitching and shrieking about the dumb-ass handling of this apparently terrifically controversial matter for years. Or put more diplomatically:

I’d also like to thank Fern Hill for fighting vigilantly to return the Feminism category to the Blog Awards.

But I'm really chuffed by the Best Collaborative/Multi-Author Blog nomination.

When deBeauxOs and I started this blog over three years ago, it was just the two of us. We soon gained anne cameron (sadly for us, too taken up by RL stuff to blog) and Beijing York (whom we are secretly trying -- unsuccessfully so far -- to persuade to return to blogging). More recently, we gave the keys to the castle to frequent and pithy commenters, Niles and Námo Mandos.

We are a mixed bunch to be sure. Some form of feminism is the only criterion for membership to this *elite* club. Well, and wit and bullshit-detecting and good writing and sanity also figure prominently in our entry rules.

Not to mention high tolerance for the swears.

Despite that, we are good on the multi-stuff: -ethnic, -linguistic, -gender-like thingies, -geographic . . .

So, as I say, I'm chuffed.

Note: You can vote only once this year in the final round, unlike last year when you could vote once a day. *sob* Voting ends January 20, 2012. Go check out the candidates and vote.

Canadian Blog Awards: First Round Voting Is On!

First-round voting has begun!

From the rules:

Each person gets one vote for their favourite blog, in each category. In round 1, you can only vote once per blog. In the subsequent rounds you can vote once per day.

And this year, there are prizes! In addition to shameless self-promotion!

You've got until December 24 for this round, but don't delay. Go find some new reads and/or reward faves.

And, of course, spread farnwide.

Blogging Ignorance

In comparing two recent books on the influence of the religious right in Canada, Big City Lib has this to say (emphasis, of course, mine):

Nevertheless, their ability to do real harm to the nation is limited; Puplit [sic] and Politics readers will note that almost all the bones throne[sic] to Religuous Right voters over the past several years have involved relatively minor foreign policy issues. Efforts to promote family planning in the 3rd world, for example, have been eliminated or scaled back or order to appease Pro-Lifers. No attempt, on the other hand, has been made to defund or eliminate abortions services here in Canada.

Ah yes. What's a mere 20 million unsafe abortions among the duskier-hued peoples a year matter?

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that each year nearly 42 million women faced with unintended pregnancies have abortions, of which 20 million are unsafe, mostly in countries where abortion is illegal. According to WHO and Guttmacher, approximately 68,000 women die annually as a result of complications of unsafe abortion; and between two million and seven million women each year survive unsafe abortion but sustain long-term damage or disease (incomplete abortion, infection (sepsis), haemorrhage, and injury to the internal organs, such as puncturing or tearing of the uterus). They also concluded abortion is safe in countries where it's legal, but dangerous in countries where it's outlawed and performed clandestinely*. The WHO reports that in developed regions, nearly all abortions (92%) are safe, whereas in developing countries, more than half (55%) are unsafe. According to WHO statistics, the risk rate for unsafe abortion is 1/270; according to other sources, unsafe abortion is responsible for one in eight maternal deaths. Worldwide, 48% of all induced abortions are unsafe.

An article from the World Health Organization calls safe, legal abortion a "fundamental right of women, irrespective of where they live" and unsafe abortion a "silent pandemic".The article states "ending the silent pandemic of unsafe abortion is an urgent public-health and human-rights imperative." It also states "access to safe abortion improves women’s health, and vice versa, as documented in Romania during the regime of President Nicolae Ceausescu" and "legalisation of abortion on request is a necessary but insufficient step toward improving women’s health" citing that in some countries, such as India where abortion has been legal for decades, access to competent care remains restricted because of other barriers.

With 'progressive' bloggers like this, is it any wonder how hard people who care about such 'relatively minor' issues had to fight to get a feminist category in the Canadian Blog Awards?

Oh. Look. This year's competition has been delayed on account of scarcity of nominations.

Well, if blogging is dying, maybe it's time to say good riddance to the ignorance so prominently on display in blogs like BCL.

*Canada, under the Theo-Neo-Cons, now funds International Planned Parenthood ONLY in countries where abortion is illegal, where women experience the most dangerous abortion conditions. Isn't that 'pro-life' of us?

Game On!

Woo. We almost missed this. Nominations for the 2011 Canadian Blog Awards are now open.

And still with a seemingly uncontroversial Best Feminist Blog category.

Go nominate your faves. And no, this isn't a hint. DJ! and a bunch of other good bloggers fought long and hard for a feminist category. We want to support the new and improved Canadian Blog Awards.

And thanks again to Support Bro Jonathan Kleiman.

Canadian Blog Award Winners

The winners of the Canadian Blog Awards have been revealed.

In the spanky new and belatedly added Feminism Category:

1st – News of the Restless

2nd – Broadsides

3rd – Dammit Janet

That was fun, wasn't it?

We look forward to next year when feminism will be included from the beginning.

And it will be.

Meanwhile, isn't it time for the Second Annual Bionic Liberal Blog Awards?

Thundering Silence

Incredible. After years of um, what to call it? How about thundering misogyny acrimony?

After years of thundering acrimony over whether a category for feminist bloggers should be included in the Canadian Blog Awards, this year there is one and there has been not a peep about it in the blogosphere.

Well, except for three feminist bloggers, JJ, ck, and Bina. And here, of course.

No whining. No recriminations. No acknowledgement even.

Neither lefties nor righties have commented.

Have they not noticed? Don't care? Can't work up the grace to mention it?

I'm wondering if this has anything to do with our success -- finally -- this year.

Don't forget that you can vote in each category every 24 hours. But you have to go to a special page for the Feminist Category.

Technology FAIL!

I mentioned the other day that I was using a borrowed computer -- sweetie's -- because my rig was in the hospital.

Got the diagnosis yesterday: logic board (mother board in PC-speak) meltdown. Some data saved, but new rig needed.

Arrrrggggghhhh.

I've been a Mac user since 1985 and the hospital is attached to the Mac store I've been patronizing since it opened in 1985. And it's around the corner from me. So I whipped out the credit card, bit the proverbial bullet, and bought the lowest-end IMac. Paid to have it delivered, but when they figured out how close I was, they decided to have a nice young man walk me home with my new rig on a two-wheel dolly.

'Wait til you see the stairs', I said to him. He saw the stairs. I added: 'There might be a few bucks for you at the top.' That was cool with him.

So I unpacked everything. Realized there were very few cables. Seems I have a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. Cool with me. No cats here.

Turned it around to start plugging stuff like printer in. Looked at ports. Something not right.

Some readers may remember that I am still on dial-up here. Mainly because I'm a cheapskate, but also because all I do here is work, email, surf, and blog. I can go to sweetie's for videos and whatnot.

Guess what. No port for phone plug.

I called nice young computer doctor -- we had bonded over my tragedy -- and confessed explained. There must be some kinda adapter, I said. He didn't know but would look and call me back.

Called back to say he had the device in his hand BUT it cost $80!!!!

Simple extortion. I won't bite.

All right.

Not quite kicking and screaming, I'm being dragged into the 21st century. Called my ISP and ordered high speed.

But that won't happen for 5 to 8 business days, they said.

So I called neighbour and begged to use her wireless connection at least to register new Mac. She said OK. (There's going to be a few bucks in that, too.)

I lost all old documents, old emails, email addresses. This is going to take a while to recover from.

But I did register, wrote this blogpost, and voted in the Feminist Category at the CBA. Remember that you can vote every 24 hours. I'm spreading my votes around the many excellent choices.

And that's the news from this corner of DJ!

Feminist Blogggers WIN!

For the first time ever, there is a Feminist Category in the Canadian Blog Awards!

This year's organizer, Jonathan Kleiman, starts out with a bit of an understatement:

In the past, there has been some disagreement about whether there should be a special category for Feminist blogs.

Boy howdy.

Just like that, feminist bloggers are through to the second and final round.

You can find links to the blogs here. And, of course, discover new and fun blogs.

Vote here. And vote for the other categories here.

You can vote once every 24 hours.

Vote and promote our WIN.

Aside to the boyos: See how easy that was?

The Boyos Will Let Us Play! UPDATED AGAIN

In the comments to my snark about the ongoing lack of a Feminism category in the Canadian Blog Awards, this year's organizer offered to put Feminism right into round two, if someone would provide him with a list of Canadian feminist bloggers.

I sent him to last year's F-Word Awards but those are just the winners, not all the nominees which would constitute a pretty good list of Canadian feminazis.

So, anybody got a list of nominees from last year? (I've emailed pale to ask.)

Failing that, we could make the list here.

I'll start:
A Creative Revolution, who, by hosting the F-Word Awards, put themselves out of the running for awards.

Unrepentent Old Hippie, who was deemed insufficiently feminist by last year's Special Expert.

Sister Sage.

Sabina at News of the Restless.

I'm on a borrowed computer and might get kicked off it, so that's all for now.

Please continue.

And many thanks to Jonathan Kleiman, obviously a peach of a fellow and our kind of guy.

UPDATE: Time being of the essence, I combined the finalists from the last F-Word Awards -- thanks, pale -- with the nominations here and sent it to Jonathan. There were 26 blogs altogether. THEN I read the rulz. Maximum 12 nominations. Uh-oh. Emailed him back and apologized. I don't know what will happen next, but I'll let you know when I do.

We feminazis are pains in the butt, aren't we. :D

MORE UPPITY-DATE: That Jonathan is fast! Here we go -- Feminist Blog Awards.

Who Knew? Canadian Blog Awards Are On Now

I totally missed it, but via Wise Law Blog I just found out that not only is the annual clusterfuck known as the Canadian Blog Awards on right now, it's in the second-round voting stage.

Drat! I was so looking forward to it -- especially the announcement of the categories. We at DAMMIT JANET always have so much fun with that.

So, here are the categories this year:

Best Overall

Best Blog Post

Chronic Illness

Collaborative/Multi-Author Blogs

Art, Crafts, Cooking and Other Creative Activities

Culture and Literature

Family

Food and Drink

French Language (Francais)

GBLT

Health

Humour

Law Blogs

Music

New Blogs

Personal

Political

Popular Culture

Professional Life

Religion and Philosophy

Science and Technology

Sports

Notice anything?

Yup. Yet again the progress of the Canadian Blog Awards towards anything remotely relevant has been retarded.

And I've gotta ask -- where was this publicized? I'm a pretty dedicated blog-reader and I haven't run across anything about it until today.

Votey-vote-vote!

Second-round voting has begun at the annual clusterfuck bunfest known as the Canadian Blog Awards.

A few observations:

First, while we at DAMMIT JANET! would never ever nohow noway countenance freeping, we are devastated to see that our fave braindead Blogging Tory, the shit-obsessed Dodo, did not make the cut in either category she was nominated in.

Next, while we at DAMMIT JANET! are officially grrrlcotting the clusterfuck bunfest, we are making a small exception for our close personal friend (OK, I met her once), Antonia Zerbisias.

A fab writer and especially fab researcher, AZ's feminist cred is unassailable.

She's nominated in two categories Best Blog by a Journalist and Best Political Blog.

Political Blog, remember, is the category that feminists -- but not LGBT bloggers -- were lumped in with.

Doncha think the boyos running the clusterfuck bunfest might pay a bit of attention if staunch if not radical feminist AZ won in BOTH categories?

Just a thought. . .

Who? Us? Freep?

Just like Canadian Cynic, we at DAMMIT JANET! are far too principled to encourage reverse freeping of the braindead Canadian Blog Awards.

But -- speaking of braindead -- just have a look at which total idiot appears here. Twice.

No, nope, uh-uh, we'd never advocate helping to further discredit a seriously fucked-up awards event. But, you gotta admit, sometimes grrrlcotting feels just a tad passive.

ADDED: Here, about-to-be-most-awesomest Canadian blogger, Dodo, demonstrates her fascination with shitting in a bag. No shit. Vote Dodo!

Canadian Blog Awards: "'Gay life' is not political"

Geniuses at the Canadian Blog Awards have changed the wording slightly in their list of categories.

These are the two changes.

GLBT All blogs that write about GLBT life are eligible for this category.

Political All blogs that write about political issues are eligible for this category.
Examples of blogs eligible for this category include conservative, feminist, non-partisan, and progressive blogs*.

Feminazis have been taken out of GLBT and tossed in with all the other political bloggers.

Here's the GLBT description as it was:

GLBT All blogs that write about GLBT life, and blogs devoted to sexual equality are eligible for this category.

So, my question is: do political AND gay blogs like Slap Upside the Head and Montreal Simon fit in the political category or in the 'gay life' category?

Vexing, innit?

Methinks they've opened another



*That link in the quote takes you to an explanation. A weasly explanation.

Canadian Blog Awards: Irrelevance "R" Us

At Canadian Cynic: The Failure To Learn Department, Lindsay Stewart tears the wizards of the CBA a new one.

Well done.

Well, we call it a grrrrlcott

Nonetheless, DAMMIT JANET! supports Dr. Dawg's call for a boycott of the Canadian Blog Awards.

And if any of the lamebrains boyos are visiting, you might want to hop over to A Creative Revolution for a glimpse of how much fun blog awards can be.

If/when we do the F-Word Awards again, we should bring back the 'Support Bro' category. I got a nomination for it. ;)

Retarded

Further to our post yesterday speculating on the Canadian Blog Awards:

No feminist category.

This Year’s Categories:

* Overall
o All blogs are eligible for this category.
* Blog Post
o All single blog posts written after November 23rd, 2008 are eligible for this category.
* Blog Post Series
o All series of blog posts written after November 23rd, 2008 are eligible for this category.
* Blog Written By A Journalist
o All blogs written by a journalist or pundit are eligible for this category.
* Crafts, Cooking, & Other Activities
o All blogs that write about activities such as cooking, knitting or other non sports related activities are eligible for this category.
* Culture & Literature
o All blogs that write about literature and culture (non-popular culture) are eligible for this category
* Family
o All blogs that write about family oriented issues or parenting are eligible for this category.
* French Language (Langue Française)
o All blogs that write in the French language (or are completely bilingual) are eligible for this category.
* GLBT
o All blogs that write about GLBT life, and blogs devoted to sexual equality are eligible for this category.
* Group
o All blogs with two or more contributors are eligible for this category.
* Humour
o All blogs that focus on humour are eligible for this category.
* New
o New blogs begun after November 23rd, 2008 are eligible for this category.
* Personal
o All blogs that write about the author’s personal life are eligible for this category.
* Photo/Art
o All blogs that publish their own works of photography or original works of art are eligible for this category.
* Podcaster/Vlogger
o All Podcasters or Vloggers are eligible for this category.
* Political
o All blogs that write about political issues are eligible for this category.
* Popular Culture
o All blogs that write about popular culture, TV, movies, etc are eligible for this category.
* Professional Life
o Those blogs that describe a profession or career and subjects related to those professions or careers, such as education, business, military, finance, law, etc, are eligible for this category.
* Religion & Philosophy
o All blogs that write about religious issues, philosophy issues, are written from a religious point of view are eligible for this category.
* Science & Technology
o All blogs that write about science or technology are eligible for this category.
* Sports
o All blogs that write about sports are eligible for this category.

A blog written by a journalist -- potential nominees, what?, maybe 4? -- is a category. While wimmin's issues get tossed in with LGBT again.

Seriously, you guys are retarded. Look it up.

Game On!

Via Northern BC Dipper, we learn that the annual cluster-fuck -- at least in terms of the dreaded 'feminist' category -- known as the Canadian Blog Awards is about to begin again.

Yay!

The boyos who run the annual popularity contest have a teensy problem with feminism.

So, first question: Will there be a feminist category at all this year?

If so, will a 'women's studies expert' make the determination of who is a feminist? And, like last year, hilariously conclude that JJ at Unrepentant Old HIppie did NOT qualify as feminist?

Will the nominations get freeped by anti-feminists?

So much suspense. So much dumbassitude to anticipate.

Wot fun!

So. What was your second clue?

This guy, who nominated C4C to the best feminist blog category because he's got the hots for Sarah Palin, invited me by email to share my thoughts on feminism, which I did because I'm polite.

I helpfully provided a link to Feminism 101, to which he responded:

heh, I’ve already been referred there

Head. Desk.

(He is so revved by the attention of the evul feminazis that he joined this moribund joint.)