I know most of you have left the house already, but if you have a chance, carry your towel around with you all day today.

So sad to think that we won't see anything more from the late, great Douglas Adams. I remember where I was when I found out he'd died — sitting at my parents' dining room table, having breakfast on Mother's Day.

UPDATE: Oops, my goof. It was yesterday, May 25. Bummer.

There's been a lot of chatter about this article, which talks about how women are choosing to no longer have their periods by continuing to take birth control pills (instead of that week-off business which makes the bleeding start); some are opting to have Aunt Flo in town only a few times a year.

The troublesome part of this culturally has a lot to do with how it's being marketed, especially on television. I wrote a rant about this on AlterNet last year; I'm sparing those readers this somewhat intimate glimpse today, haha. The point is that pharmaceutical companies are marketing our periods as a disease that needs to be cured, not as something that's healthy and natural. Another way to demonize women's bodies as unclean or just plain "not right."

Recently, I went to my GYN with some weird feeling around my left ovary, not pain, just sort of… well, indescribable. Without going into too much detail, my doctor (who's very much committed to alternative medicine as well as standard medicine) suggested that I take a stronger Pill for two months straight, missing three periods in total. I was creeped out and irritated.

I mentioned the above rant about marketing and while she agreed with that view, she also pointed out something that I hadn't thought about. Evolutionarily speaking, our bodies haven't caught up to our lifestyles yet, and more specifically, the fact that we're living way, way longer than we should be. And for women, we're having way, way more periods than we ever were supposed to, and it's evidently pretty stressful on the reproductive system.

She explained that, contradictory to what I'd learned in that 5th grade health-n-hygiene session (which were, as she noted, often sponsored by Tampax and Kotex), it's not that our uteruses build up a bunch of tissue over the course of three weeks that needs be flushed out by having a period. It's more like the tissue is there, and the stopping of certain hormones releases it. By continuing the hormones, we're just continuing the tissue's existence.

There's evidently some research out there (I haven't looked for it yet) that suggests taht by having as many periods as we do now (think about it: 13 years old –> 50 years old, times 12, is over 400 periods) is stressing our reproductive systems out so much that it might be causing ovarian and other cancers.

This certainly doesn't excuse big pharma for marketing our bodies as diseased, of course, but it's worth considering.

Monday is evidently a big house party day for the GOP (I'm on their email list, just so I can keep tabs on 'em), so I decided to see if there was one I could actually go to in my area. I typed in my Brooklyn ZIP code, and it immediately took me to a page titled, "Create your own house party!"

No Repub's in these parts, I guess. ;-)

Official World Premiere Movie Event:
The Adventures of Electra Elf: "Don’t Worry Bee Happy"
starring Reverend Jen, Reverend Jen’s nephews, Faceboy and more!
Directed by Nick Zedd
Written by Reverend Jen
With opening act, Amy Hills
Tuesday, May 16th, 8:30 p.m.
At Mo Pitkin's, 34 Avenue A (212)777-5660
8 BUCKS
Followed by Faceboy's Birthday Party in the lounge next door!

Underground filmmaker, Nick Zedd, has once again teamed up with art star, Reverend Jen, to premiere a new cinematic masterpiece – episode 13 of their long-running cable access TV series "the Adventures of Electra Elf."

Set in a fictional metropolis called "Hummerville", the wacky yet "jackable" superheroine adventure series stars Reverend Jen as Electra Elf, a spandex-clad ass-kicker who by day masquerades as mild-mannered reporter, Jennifer Swallows. Reverend Jen Junior portrays her sidekick, "Fluffer", a talking Chihuahua who rides a flying skateboard and masquerades as a petite dog-clothes model by day. And you know what that means…lots of silly Chihuahua outfits!

In “Don’t Worry Bee Happy” evil mutant, Nimbus (played by an animated puppet) travels via spaceship to Hummerville along with Rastus and Skeeter, two mutant insect-children (played by Rev. Jen’s 4 and 5-year old nephews) and a spider creature named Daddy Long Legs. When the mutants team up with supervillain, Maggot Master (played by Mike Amato) and proceed to terrorize Hummerville with artificially cooked up mega-insects and spiders, Electra Elf and Fluffer must save the day!  But what will happen when Electra Elf gets caught in a giant spider web and Fluffer confronts a roach five times her size?  I’ll tell you what will happen – you’ll be on the edge of your seat!!!

Featuring an original rockin' soundtrack, amazing fight scenes and heart stopping action, this is sure to be bigger than Batman, and unlike Spiderman, Superman or Batman, Electra-Elf and Fluffer aren't the same old superheroes rehashed by entertainment moguls to fill the pockets of media conglomerates. These are original superheroes for the new millennium!  Don't miss this unbelievable night, which will also feature live opening act, Amy Hills!

Check out www.electraelf.com for a free trailer and cast extras!

I'm here at the Personal Democracy Forum Conference, and just some quick observations… while there's way more women here that there was last year, the crowd is still overwhelmingly white. I mean… like, REALLY white. Nothin' against white people or anything (many of my friends are white, HAHA)… it's just that it's sort of frustrating to hear people yak about the digital revolution when it's essentially middle to upper class white people talking to each other.

On the upshot, I finally got to meet Jill from Feministe, who is one of my biggest online heroines. I got all flustered. (Warning, mutual blog-crushing happening.)

Oh my, my new favorite band ROCKS.

Artsy pictures here. Blurry video here.

Don't miss their next show, the official debut: Sat., May 20 @ 8pm, Bowery Poetry Club.

This almost beats the End of the World.