Female Appreciation Month - Day One

Ok, Day One of Female Appreciation Month.

I'm going to start with an artist who is very close to my heart Amanda fucking Palmer. (links to the wiki site)

I first became aware of Amanda Palmer when a friend of mine directed me towards The Dresden Dolls, a band featuring Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione. After listening to Girl Anachronism, in which Amanda sings passionately about her experiences with mental instability, and feeling out of place in this world.

Ever since then she has astounded me with her passion and her vocal style. Bad Habit, particularly, has appealed to me in ways I can't begin to comprehend.
Recently she has released a solo album titled Who Killed Amanda Palmer, first released as a mini-series of music videos on her website and YouTube.

I'd like to draw your attention to one of her videos from this series, Oasis. Oasis tells the story of a young girl who is subject to rape, abortion and ridicule, and tells it all through an upbeat and bouncy song. The bright colours and nonchalance of the entire piece makes the subject matter darker, more frank.


I also urge you to check out the other pieces in her series, particularly Leeds United and Ampersand.

Tamora Pierce

I can't think of fantasy novels without my mind turning to Tamora Pierce. Her novels immersed me so completely as a young adult and even today, when I pick up one of her books I find myself trapped in her world for hours, even days.

I am especially fond of her Tortall universe, which began with Alanna: The First Adventure, first book in The Song Of The Lioness series.
From the wiki:
"The Song of the Lioness is a quartet of fantasy books by Tamora Pierce. They tell the story of how Alanna of Trebond (disguised as the boy Alan) swaps places with her twin brother Thom to train as a knight in the royal palace."

Her world building is absolutely amazing. She has built a world of numerous countries, each with their own unique customs and traditions and gods. She goes into great depth to describe relations between different countries, and why relations are the way they are. But her world building never overtakes her driven plots, or her fleshed out characters. She has created huge systems of gods and immortal creatures which I always want to know more about.

Tamora Pierce can also be credited with my introduction into feminism. After reading the Lioness series, I started looking at the world in a very different light. Even though I didn't self-identify as a feminist until very recently, her books were what got me thinking.

Last, but not least, Cibo Matto, an artist I first saw recommended by LJ User: angriest.
From the Wiki:
Cibo Matto (meaning crazy food in Italian, and pronounced [tʃiːbo matːo]) was a New York City-based band formed by two Japanese women, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, in 1994. The lyrics in their songs are primarily concerned with food, possibly used as a metaphor. Their sound has been described as a combination of "Jazz, Hip-Hop, Brazilian music, African Drumming, Japanese Rock, Disco samples, and the cheap, under-funded, un-talented but, nevertheless, creative and genius of the spirit of the underbelly of the city."^[1]

This band is crazy and random, and very powerful. Since I adore sci-fi shows and speculative fiction, I have to give you the song Sci-Fi Wasabi


That's all for now. Tune in tomorrow for more Female Appreciation Month.

Link List:
Female Appreciation Month Preamble - the first official post of Female Appreciation Month.
Female Appreciation Month - An Introduction - Where I introduce my part in it
Female Appreciation Month Day 1 by LJ User: girliejones

Hottest 100 and Sexism - the event that kick-started this.
My addendum to the Sexism of the Hottest 100 An addendum, and the first mention of Female Appreciation Month
Female appreciation month - A call out to suggestions for the month

Female Appreciation Month - An Introduction

Posted from my livejournal.

Today, girliejones began Female Appreciation Month, a month in which she plans to showcase female talent in music and writing. I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I asked to be brought on board. With the two of us working together we should be able to bring you 60 female artists and 60 female writers, and 60 female something-else's compiled of reader recommendations.

I'm really pleased to be helping out, and think it is a fantastic idea. I don't think we can cover all of the outstanding female artists and writers in a month, but we'll get through a hell of a lot.

So, before I start my first post (about Amanda fucking Palmer, as if you couldn't guess :P), I'm going to provide you with a list of links about Female Appreciation Month to get you started. Both myself and girliejones will be linking to each others posts, and stockpiling links at the end of each post.

I hope you all enjoy what promises to be an engaging 30 days!

Hottest 100 and Sexism - the event that kick-started this.
My addendum to the Sexism of the Hottest 100 An addendum, and the first mention of Female Appreciation Month
Female appreciation month - A call out to suggestions for the month

And finally: Female Appreciation Month Preamble - the first official post of Female Appreciation Month.

At this point, I also want to ask for submissions from people. Who are you favourite female artists and writers? As well as the two I'm familiar with, I will be talking about one who I have recently discovered.