A bushel of accomplished and amazing women came together to lip-synch to Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me" (AKA, that song they sing at the end of The First Wives Club). It's adorable, enlivening, and features pretty much everyone we love in TV and film, and then some. According to Jezebel, it's all part of a campaign to "encourage other ladies to vote for Barack Obama in the November 6th election." And you should watch it. Now.

The "You Don't Own Me" campaign explains:

Women constitute more than half of the population. In 2008, 60% of voters were women. It is estimated that 10 million more women than men will vote in this election. Despite this, women make up only 16% of Congress. Women earn only 70 cents to each dollar men make. Women of color and undocumented women make less than white citizens. Mitt Romney and the Republican Party are determined to overturn Roe V. Wade. Romney has not supported equal pay for women (The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act). Romney has vowed to defund Planned Parenthood. Romney has vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Romney doesn't want health care to cover birth control. Romney says same sex marriage should be banned with a Constitutional Amendment.

Full cast is as follows:

Alexa Chung
Alia Shawkat
Amy Rose Spiegel
Ana Calderon
Anna Fitzpatrick
Arrow and Ada
Barb Morrison
Becky Stark
Brodie Lancaster
Carlen Altman
Carrie Brownstein
Cassie Carello
Chapin Sisters
Courtney Hall
Courtney Martin
Elle Wagner
Erika Spring
Hannah Johnson
India Menuez
Judith Iocovozzi
Kate Nash
Kate Urcioli
Katy Goodman
Kime Buzzelli
Krista Bachmeier
Kristina Uriegas
Leah Siegel
Lena Dunham
Lesley Gore
Lisa Mayock
Lucy Moffatt
Madelyne Beckles
Mae Whitman
Mallyce
Maria Valencia
Meg Olsen
Melissa Coker
Mia Moretti & Caitlin Moe
Mia Lidofsky
Miranda July
Natalia Czajkiewicz
Natasha Lyonne
Petra Collins
Rachel Antonoff
Rain Phoenix
Ruby Karp
Ryan Roche
Sarah Sophie Flicker
Shae Detar
Sia
Sophie Buhai
Tavi Gevinson
Tracee Ellis Ross

[via Jezebel]

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said, "Wouldn't a kinder, gentler Gawker be hideously unreadable? No, we never talked about that. It would be hysterical but we haven't."

Londonist was proud to announce the winner of this year's Turner Prize was Mark Wallinger who made long-standing London protester Brian Haw a work of art, after he has previously been made into a sort of law due to his lengthy banner-waving vigil outside parliament. The strength of the pound made real in the form of a 25 foot high coin on a quiet patch of the Thames river bank, aiming to inspire all Londoners in a publicly voted decision on spending £50 million Lottery money. Perhaps some new play projects for London kids who, for the lack of youthful entertainment, are trying to amuse themselves by collecting prostitute calling cards, which are worryingly rigged and booby-trapped. And for those who are anticipating a lovely fat check from a great-aunt this Christmas and wondering what to spend it on, the London Marathon will need a new sponsor after 2009. How does The Londonist London Marathon sound?

Bostonist ducked and covered when a gas tanker tipped over and exploded in the nearby town of Everett. No one got hurt, but cars and homes were destroyed in the blaze. Making matters worse, the driver of the tanker had a few smudges on his record. Bostonist was then agog as their former governor, who usually doesn't hang out in Massachusetts that much, made the news in every possible way. Mitt Romney gave a speech about every religion except his own. However, several other individuals were more interested in the news that Romney still had illegal immigrants working at his mansion. In other Mitt-free news, transit police put out the alert for a "Green Line Groper" who had been making the lives of high-school teens extremely unpleasant. Bostonist also joined a polyamory club and found out that polyamorous people are a lot like normal people, only with more variety.

The hostage standoff is over. No one died. Nothing went ka-blam. The "deranged man" at Clinton's HQ was simply the town crazy infamous around those parts for his kooky mental instability. (Then, this situation must happen on a daily basis over at Hillary Clinton's SF headquarters.) According to CBS 5:

WBZ Radio's Lana Jones learned that the [wacky] man's stepson reported to police that his stepfather had been drinking for two days. The son said his stepfather had strapped two road flares to his chest and told his son Friday morning that he was going to the Clinton campaign office. He reportedly told his stepson "to watch the news."

Oh, that's sad. Sure, what he did is terrible but we have a soft spot for all you crazies out there. The poor thing.

Clinton has yet to make a formal post-hostage statement. Though when she does, it's sure to be milked dry. (She never ended up contacting the suspect, BTW.) But Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney jumped in on the action, saying that "[e]veryone is keeping those involved in the situation in New Hampshire in our thoughts and prayers right now as well, with hope towards a safe resolution." Which? Is a total lie.

Anyway, we're happy to see the standoff is over sans bloodshed or booms.

Giants 9 Reds 5- Here are three things we once thought improbable: Britney Spears having a comeback, Mitt Romney winning a "Pet Owner of the Year" award, and Matt Cain getting enough run support to win. Well, the improbable happened and for the first time since Mother's Day, the Official Favorite Giant of SFist got enough run support to win. In fact, he got a lot of run support, all thanks to Fred Lewis who hit his second grand slam of the season. Lewis played in place of Barry Lamar who sat out with bad legs. Wally Pipp anyone?

Blue Jays 10 A's 3- Ouch

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week.

Bostonist plans to bring the right tunes for a July 4th backyard barbecue. Side one of the Bostonist Chock-Full-o-Freedom Summer Soundtrack comes courtesy of the Ryan Montbleau Band. Side two is a mix from Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. If the barbecue is really ragin', they'll bring new singles from Mitt Romney's dog called "Station Wagon From Hell" and new Celtic Ray Allen's cover of "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number."

As neither American (they have their own birthday to worry about) nor interested in Paris Hilton in any capacity whatsoever, Torontoist freely covered what it knows best – its local beat. They compared notes on what the city's greatest albums of all time were, watched some sweet-ass rock balancing, and continued covering the sale of one of its favourite CD stores, Sam the Record Man, with a report from its merchandise auction. They freely checked out the smallest bar in town, then told their readers to go beat the shit out of a car. When emergency vehicles were ordered to "Support Our Troops," they debated the issue and watched as a street artist, Posterchild, mocked it (and then re-published his manifesto a few days later).

SFist had freedom to love covered, with coverage of the city's famous annual gay pride parade. And of course, they covered the freedom to rock, with an interview of local American air guitar champion Hot Lixx Houlihan. The commenters were free to complain about the terrible parking situation in San Francisco, in not one, not two, but three posts this week. What San Francisco's not free to do, though? Throw away garbage – the city's taken away over 300 of our city trash cans!

Overseas, Londonist was politely pretending not to be aware of Independence Day, but everyone was keeping busy with a variety of big, outdoor events, all washed out by ceaseless rain, as is traditional for all of London's "summer" shenanigans. As everyone limbered up for a slightly confused Canada Day, the whole of London was suddenly unnerved by a major bomb scare - news still coming in so watch that link. Despite the troubling situation, Londoners are still embracing their freedom and are marching and partying for London Pride, Europe's biggest gay and lesbian festival. And with the famously stoic and bravest of faces only Londoners know how to produce in troubled times, chins are up and voices are soaring for the week-long London-wide Sing London event. Let's hope the stiff upper lips are relaxed a little for the big finale next weekend.

For those who say they don't like LA, filmmaker Werner Herzog says this: "Los Angeles is raw, uncouth, and bizarre, but it's a place of substance." Therefore, LAist has been celebrating film, day by day, this past week by following the Los Angeles Film Festival. (But let's not forget about the erotic stuff, okay?) Angelenos are also savoring their last year of using cell phones while driving – was that why all those UCLA students were running around in their underwear? And with such freedom of mobility in their car culture (okay, the traffic doesn't help much), why not host an art exhibition called The Parking Lot Show?

Summer in the city has been heating up for Gothamist. The Big Apple had a forty-eight-minute blackout that freaked everyone out. Even still, there were people celebrating their freedom to camp out for iPhones, which arrived in NYC with possibly more media and spectators than people on line. A fight broke out between two cozy seafood restaurants over claims of intellectual property theft (the Caesar salad, the wainscotting, and the marble counters, for starters) and some people got upset at vehicles violating no-car rules in a Brooklyn park. Luckily, there is Matt Allen, who has been handing out free frozen treats across the country, and is now in NYC. And the Splasher, the strange figure who's been splashing street art, sent us a 16-page manifesto.

And in Philadelphia, where that whole Fourth of July thing got started, Phillyist was celebrating freedom left and right: freedom to act for twenty-four hours straight, freedom to shop and drink at the same time, freedom to make Seinfeld references and the mayor's freedom to get his iPhone on. They were happy to see their local transit corporation feels free to ask people to keep it quiet, that kittens are free from cheesesteak restaurants, and that The Nightwatchman is still all about a different kind of freedom. On a completely different note, they educated their readers about pulmonary embolism, which took the life of their beloved editor, Star "Sarcasmo" Foster, in December.

Compiled and edited by Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey.

Top image by Flickr user 37°C, via SFist. Middle image by Flickr user NYCViaRachel . Bottom image by Michael Femia at Bostonist.

SFist was excited to hit SketchFest’s Comedy Death-Ray act last night at Cobb’s. The line up (full of Mr. Show and I LOVE the ‘80’s alumns) looked promising. After the usher told us to give him $10 we landed front row seats. Which served us well for the surprise stars of the night, Paul F. Tompkins—who had by far the strongest set of the night. Seriously, give that guy his own TV show! The other notable act was the vocal stylings of Hard ‘n Phirm, who ended the night with their rendition of a Latin power love ballad, which brought down the house, and which SFist is secretly hoping someone will sing to us this Valentine’s Day.

SFist, like most of the crowd, were there to see David Cross, and able openers only served to increase our anticipation for his set. Cross's work on Mr. Show and Arrested Development are some of the funniest in contemporary comedy. Sadly, SFist was really disappointed (appalled might be the better word) by David Cross's routine. In addition to getting the smallest laughs from the crowd, it was the most blatant public display of bigotry we've witnessed in person. It's difficult to define the difference between making fun of something and attacking it. It’s a fine line, but many comics get it right: the greatest cultural and religious satire takes the beliefs held by a group of people and spins it to show the comedy inherent in those beliefs.

For example, South Park has covered the very same ground in terms of joking about Mormons by going through the Joseph Smith story (which was what Cross went through as well). South Park explicates the story to hilarious (and irreverent) effect by making it into a musical, complete with ditties about translating golden plates, angels appearing, and the plates conveniently disappearing whenever outside sources ask for evidence. Cross, on the other hand, simply laid out the story of the religion’s foundation, and at the end of major points essentially said, "Isn't that dumb?" "Can you believe how stupid these Mormons are?" Baddum-chee! Get the joke? We didn't. Showing why something is ridiculous is comedy, telling you it's dumb is more of a soap-box lecture. People at the club paid for comedy, not a lesson in religious beliefs punctuated with statements like "how dumb is that?" The let down here is that SFist, like a lot of fans there, were hoping for the type of awkward comedy Cross does best, not the kind of bit you'd expect from a talk radio show host.

It was surprising and a little confusing that a comedian of Cross's stature and talent would spend so much time on pure vitriol. Cross seemed to deflate some of the exuberance of the evening (which was buoyed by a strictly-enforced two-drink minimum), and the lag showed with paltry applause. Moreover, his bit seemed derivative of recent attacks on Mitt Romney's candidacy that have appeared in Slate and elsewhere, and which are based not on his political record so much as on his Mormonism (which is the way Cross began his piece). The difference is that the Slate authors weren't trying to be funny. Any religion, plus political aspirations on the part of one of its adherents, could equal pure comedic gold, given a proper witty treatment. Sadly, Cross fell short of the task he set himself. Cross ended his piece with "Mormons are F***ing idiots", not one of the more socially tolerant statements we've ever heard. But hey, maybe nobody told him it was Martin Luther King Day.

Our Governor is SO not like your Governor.

This particular match is between Team Gracie and Team Hammerhouse and kicks off the "Arnold Martial Arts Festival," which is part of the whole Arnold Classic. Also included in the Classic is "Arnold Boxing, the Fitness and Figure International (check out the pictures. Seriously), and a the Arnold Table Tennis Challenge. We hear these events totally rule over the Pataki Ping Pong Invitational and the Mitt Romney Foosball Classic.

It should be said too that things like the ultimate fighting championships are actually banned in several states (Sen. John McCain called it "cockfighting with humans") and was banned in this state until a certain someone signed legislation last year legalizing it in the state. It was also these events that got the Governor in trouble last year when it was discovered he was still making money off of them despite rules against such things. This year, he won't be paid but will be going anyways.

But the best part of all of this is that while this is going on, the poor schlubs in the State Legislature are stuck trying to hammer out an agreement on Arnie's big bond initiative because the deadline to get this sucker on the ballot is next week. Arnie is totally the boss who dumps some huge project on the underlings then skips out for a week of golf and schmoozing (or in this case, kung fu and body building) and expects the project to be done when they get back. The Democrats are totally hemming and hawing about it too, something that is probably more political posturing than anything else. But wouldn't you be pissed off to that while you're working overtime and on weekends, your boss is off watching some kung-fu action?