two things that you should see.

1) you already know how much i love HollaBack. the HollaBack phenomenon has spread all over the country, and city-specific sites (the flagship site is NYC-based) have popped up all over the country. apparently, the HollaBack DC site went dormant awhile back, but thankfully, someone stepped into the breach and started Don't Be Silent, where DC residents can speak out about street harassment in the city.

the more venues that women have to speak up about this interminably rampant issue, the better. so thanks to Golden Silence for seeing a gap, and working to fill it. please check out the site, give it some traffic, help it get off the ground.

2) ok, have you all been watching the Planet Earth series on the discovery channel? because if you haven't, you should start. like right now. fire up the TiVo and get to recording, because this is fricking amazing television. i remember being blown away by the commercials alone when they started airing a few weeks back - i also remember cursing the fact that i don't have a high-def tv. and it takes a lot to make me curse the fact that i haven't spent half a month's rent on a 17-inch television set!

since then, i've seen about two and a half episodes (there are 11 in all, and the whole series was five years in the making), and it has already sent me through the entire gamut of emotions. i have laughed out loud (baboons! tiptoeing through a flooded delta like dainty little primate divas!), i have gasped out loud (a 40 second slow motion shot of a great white leaping out of the ocean and snatching a seal in its gargantuan jaws), and - despite my valiant efforts to steel myself - cried more than a few tears (a baby elephant that was separated from its mother during a migration, thirsty and exhausted, accidentally following the mother's tracks in the wrong direction and towards certain death). the images and aesthetics alone are truly awesome, in the traditional sense, and the editing and narration keep it engaging. i cannot recommend this stuff highly enough. so you should watch it. really.