LINK LOVE: 2/7/2012
There were too many great links this morning to pick only ONE for ye old Facebook. So here they are, collected into a nice happy digest. Enjoy!
1. Superheroines in Comfy Pants + How RPGs Talk To Women
Those links are straight from The Mary Sue, which is a great female centric nerd blog you should already be following on FB, Twitter or through some other social media venue.
Personal favorite:
Bat Woman in Comfy Pants by MichelleSix
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2. Lana Del Rey’s The Hunger Games
The perfect spoof and mash-up of the songstress everyone loves to hate + the increasing hysteria surrounding The Hunger Games.
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3. Neko Case is Recording a Song for The Hunger Games
I predicted this! A Neko Case song kicks off every one of my Hunger Games playlists. She already has so many great songs to choose from, it seems strange that she would need to record another. Ah well, I guess that’s how these soundtrack thangs work. Along with tracks from Arcade Fire and The Secret Sisters, this is absolutely going to be a must buy. Looks like there will be two separate albums – the actual score by T-Bone and James Newton Howard. And then another full of conventional songs inspired by The Hunger Games. It’s going to be released March 20, 2012. Om nom nom.
Funny, we were just remarking about this last night after receiving the San Diego Comic Con catalog where Peter Parker and Mary Jane are posing front and center. I was in the “looks alright to me” camp, and Dan was in the “I like the web-shooters” camp. Our buddy and current house guest Troy who is easily the more Spidey-obsessed seemed a bit “meh” all around and was much more excited about the potential new Star Trek series.
Star Wars the Old Republic: Controversial Twi’lek Slave is Controversial
It’s Wednesday and a sad day when I can’t even work up the energy to get even a little bit irate about the Twi’lek slave companion with shock collar option in the Star Wars the Old Republic MMORPG.
Unwittingly opened my browser this morning to a storm of controversy about whether or not having a sexy female slave in a shock collar and being able to punish her at will is problematic or not. And yes, I do think Twi’leks are sexy. Those brain tails man. Unf.
So here goes – slaves are problematic. Women as slaves are deeply problematic.
If you can shock this beautiful blue face, you're a monster. Just sayin'.
Do fangirls feel uncomfortable with another female being forcibly enslaved and brutally punished? Yes.
Does this hurt fanboys feelings because it’s all in good fun and you’re an evil Sith killing loads of people anyways? Yes.
Can fangirls just get over it? No.
Can fanboys just be OK with fangirls NOT being OK with it? No.
*I would have included “some” or “many” here as qualifiers but that should be obvious.*
So there are female attempts at explaining their reactions to this information and then men start to mansplain and then men-apologists back up their assertions and then people who’ve never played the game chime in with their two cents. I’d like to pretend that I care more. But today is a sad day because I really don’t. Fairly certain men and women of all ages will mistreat this poor imaginary creature and fap all over themselves while they do it. There is nothing to stop them.
Do I wish the game developers had been a bit smarter about all of this? Of course. It would be nice to have the female perspective considered when games are being put together.
Just last night I had to endure the most wince-worthy few hours of gaming yet because someone told the creators of Gears of War 3 they should include female characters. So I get to hear dude banter about “a woman serving with the COG” for two hours, in which she has to be called ugly, etc, etc and run down by the Baird character I was playing. You know – instead of interesting game play or dialogue.
Saluting the United States of Tara
Finished up the third and final season of United States of Tara today.
Yes, I’m on a Diablo Cody binge right now. Decided to give it a spin after having mixed feelings regarding Young Adult and to a certain extent – Jennifer’s Body and Juno. I just might be the only person on the internet that didn’t really have a problem with Jennifer’s Body. In fact, as a horror fan, I thought it was spoofy and high fun. It seemed to both mock and alternately love the horror genre in ways few flicks manage to get right.
The Ginger Snaps comparisons are lost on me. I’ve seen both and didn’t once think of Ginger Snaps while watching Jennifer’s Body. If anything, I thought of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. All the goobery dialogue and tongue-in-cheekness there.
Also – how hard does a female writer have to work to get some respect up in H-Town ya’ll? She won a damned Academy Award and at least two characters she helped script have either won major awards or been nominated (possibly a third depending how Young Adult fares). And still, she gets a ton of e-hate and bitchy comments cause she stripped for a year or something. I don’t even know. But it totally has nothing to do with her gender or anything. Carry on.
Back to United States of Tara: The show is about a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) leading a suburban life in Kansas, raising two children with her husband who is a self-employed landscaper.
Cody’s skills as a creator and writer are on fine display here. I was wary approaching it – a bit burnt out on mental illness as comedy fodder, or reality TV fodder, or fodder in general.
What struck me? In the same way that Juno struck me? The mid-west normalcy. The harkening back to classic TV shows that I identified with in my youth, like Roseanne. A family living together using sarcasm, humor and love to sustain themselves. Only mental illness fills the role of economic hardship as the main struggle in the lives of the Gregsons.
“Once Upon A Time”…When TV Was Good
I have a three date rule with new Television shows. Sometimes I might even stretch that to 6, if I am really pulling for the actors, writers, producers, or creators. Or the premise. Basically, I’m a sucker for being strung-along by a show that I really want to win. And by “win,” I mean, be renewed for another season.
No, I’m not talking about Community. I know there are tons of great 30 minute comedies out there right now. But I’m just not buying them. Sorry ya’ll. I hope many blessings fall upon you and that all your favorite television shows are renewed.
*THAR BE SPOILERS HERE*
Once Upon A Time Poster
I’m talking about Once Upon a Time. I’m talking about how many quality shows are on the air right now that I could be devoting my attention to and yet I feel so compelled and moved to share my feelings about this particular gem.
If you want to call it that.
I have feelings about this show. The pilot and first two episodes were BAD. Not good/bad but bad/bad. And yet, I kept watching. The writing is ham-fisted. The acting is dubious. The dialogue is ill-suited for the fairy tale world. There is little humor or charm. It either takes itself too seriously or not seriously enough. And the CGI. Yipe.
There are also weird race issues happening all over the place. The Evil Queen and her equally evil mirror are the only characters of color I can determine, and anyone with a slightly European accent is a bad guy or pawn of a bad guy.
Dudes – what is happening on this show? They just killed off my favorite sexy mysterious character in the last episode ala Boon on Lost, which is par for the course because THIS is the creative team behind THAT series.
Sheriff Graham as depicted by the imminently shaggable Jamie Dornan was one of the few intriguing characters, not just because of his tasty Irish accent and scruffy neck-bearded hipster loveliness, but because he was one of a limited variety who wasn’t purely good or evil. His amorality was a decided plus in a fairy tale world where Good is GOOD and Evil is EVIL. I mean, that is boring ya’ll. The best TV shows come down squarely in the middle.
Which is another part of the reason Once Upon a Time is failing on so many levels. One of them being it’s comparisons to (what I’ve heard is) the far superior comic book series Fables from which the premise is purported to have been cannibalized.
Movie Review: Attack the Block
Attack The Block is a flick that I’ve been quietly pining away for the last 5 months. It was in American theatres around mid-July and no one had heard about it. Or wanted to see it. Then it was gone in the blink of an eye but kept popping up again on my radar, once because Edgar Wright of Scott Pilgrim fame (also the executive producer of ATB) was talking it up, and another when Racialicious wrote up a blog entry about it. Well, several to be more precise. I’ll link those at the bottom.
Really, I’m sure people have already covered the movie in far more eloquent terms than I could. But, for me personally, watching something like this is a minor miracle that I’d like to pass on to friends, family and some of the random strangers that stumble upon my blog.
Please – go rent Attack the Block. It’s available through Red Box (there’s one of those on every major street corner, ya know). I’m sure it’s on Netflix. It’s out there, circulating in the world and here you are, sitting in front of your computer screen reading some silly review.
RANT ABOUT GENRE ENTERTAINMENT
What I love about alien movies lately? They let us have a dialogue about race that I just don’t see happening in a lot of other genre entertainment. Game of Thrones is rad, but race is not on the menu for that particular six course meal. LOTR is a bit more subtle than 300, but there’s still an element of dark vs light man flesh (guess who wins?).
The gothic/monster genre has done a little bit better on the race front – at least Twilight made an attempt (though arguably a poor one) to include Native Americans. Remember those people who lived here in “America” before white kids took over? Yeah, very often genre fiction doesn’t.
By far – science fiction allows us to meet on an equal playing field. I love you fantasy, but you are far to stuck in your gender/race roles. Sci Fi is usually forward looking. It has the glory of giving us alternate future worlds in which it doesn’t matter if you’re a dude a lady or black and white.
BACK TO THE MOVIE REVIEW
Attack The Block is like that. Except it talks about race. Gives a bit of a nod to gender. It talks about socio-economic status. It doesn’t give us a happy ending in which the heroes solve all those problems. But it does give us a realistic one. Which is exceptional for a film about a gang of tough London kids fighting off a horde of aliens in their apartment complex.
Dan, The DH, was skeptical when we first plopped the DVD in. This, from a guy who spent the weekend playing Skyrim. 
But by the end he was clearly won over to my side of the fence. The side where I knew this would be a good, fun and unique romp before the DVD even started spinning up.
You know there’s something wrong in the world when a 30 year old white woman gets excited about seeing a 15 year old black male protagonist in a movie about aliens. Granted, John Boyega who potrays the hero Moses DOES look a lot like a young Denzel Washington.
It's in the eyes and the lips. Sad eyes, pouty lips. Just sayin.
Dan and I aren’t the only ones who noticed. Seriously, google “John Boyega” and “Denzel Washington” it’s in every damn article written about him. Also worth noting – he’s already signed by Spike Lee for an HBO drama “Da Brick.” Hollywood moved fast!
Girls on Film: Three Years Later
Back in 2008 I posted this piece railing against the status of women in conventional Hollywood films, especially in comedies and comic book adaptation flicks. Over the course of my blogging tenure I’ve bemoaned the lack of female roles in flicks, books, TV and comic books.
But lately I’ve felt…content. Perhaps it’s a natural response to the process of actively seeking out materials in these mediums which represent women, but something shifted for me last month and I’ve been ruminating on what magically altered my viewpoint about Girls on Film (as a system of naming the lack of female roles in entertainment in general).
In late June/early July I watched this quiet, independent film titled The Poker House starring Jennifer Lawrence, Selma Blair and Chloe Moretz, written and directed by Lori Petty and David Alan Grier. Yeah – I’m not joking. That’s some serious estrogen-laced girlness right there. It was expertly acted, painfully real and belied all reserves I’ve had about JLaw as Katniss Everdeen. Even more so than Winter’s Bone.
I can’t, can’t, CANNOT recommend this film enough. It does have a rape scene in it, so please proceed with caution.
But it sort of shook me out of my funk and the narrow lens with which I’ve been eyeballing all types of entertainment and art in the last year or so. Strangely, this funk shaking had an adverse effect, and I’ve spent the better part of this month ruminating and taking notice of the goings-ons around me with new eyes.
I like what I see.
LADIES – this is the revolution ya’ll! We are DOMINATING entertainment. It’s big screen and it’s small screen and it’s quiet and it’s loud but we are doing it. Sistahs are doing it for themselves.
And it’s so refreshing to watch something, to read something and hear a voice you recognize. To see a person you recognize. It makes you realize how rare it is that something in entertainment resonates with you – as a woman. How hard it is to relate to so much that is dominated by white males. And then you see it and you’re like “fuck yes!” I didn’t even know I was missing it. But there it is. Like falling in love all over again.
No one seems to know where this rolling wave of womanhood came from, but it’s certainly reaching the shore at this moment and depositing a shit ton of lovely pearls on the beaches for us to pluck up and admire.
- Female centric book series which appeal strongly to the masses (male and female) like The Hunger Games
- Female comedic flicks like Bridesmaids and Easy A featuring amazingly funny women (though noticeably lite on ladies of color)
- Females are ruling the sitcom world in shows like 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation.
- Females are even making their mark (and occasionally passing the Bechdel Test) in male-centric material like Sons of Anarchy. I absolutely love Katey Sagal in this series. She has some of the very best lines in the entire show. It has some problematic issues around race – but that’s a subject for an upcoming blog entry.
Nerdy Ladies and Geek Credibility
There’s been a lot of speculation on teh internets in the last week on what it means to be a Geek Girl and whether or not it’s appropriate or needed to reference your gender when describing yourself thusly. There’s also been talk about whether or not “attractive womenz” can be geeks without being seen as pandering to a target demographic. Also some rumblings about geek cred in general. What is geek? Who is geeky? DEFINE PLEASE.
Dire questions for the ages. Like trying to define cool or hip or…it’s a labyrinthine process that only ends in tears. Since that way = madness, I will not even attempt.
So should ladies have to describe themselves as “Geek Girls” rather than just geeks?
At first I was like: Hell No!
But now I’m like: Why not?
This is how Geek Girls fight on the internet!
What does it say about a person if they are uncomfortable with peeps referencing their own gender? It goes back to this whole thang that pops up every now and then when it comes to blogs written by women: I want your perspective, but not as a woman, as a person.
Inevitably (not hatin’, just sayin’) it’s a guy because being a white male entitles you to not ever think about being a white male. The entire existence of the world is crafted around submerging you into a comfortable bubble which echoes back everything you love and hold dear as being “normal and cool” while everything else is foreign, bewildering, and frustrating. You simply tolerate it because when you express this frustration/bewilderment, the other beings around you with less comfortable bubble lives get fucking pissed.
The truth of the matter is: Experiencing popular culture/nerd and geek culture is different for everyone (I’m throwing my weight behind this being true for a lot of men/women specifically). Not because we say so, just cause IT IS WHAT IT IS. And there is value in naming your experience. Am I right? I think I’m right…
At times my experience as a woman seems irrelevant, but at times it seems very relevant. As is any bias or lens with which you view the world. Owning up to it and being honest about it is totally cool.
What’s all the fuss about then? Apparently if you are pleasantly shaped and easy on the eyes – you have to work harder to be seen as legit. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SERIOUS? This is especially true for Geekdom, in which the entrance is closely guarded by cave trolls and a bull with a nose-ring that wants you to memorize, recite and argue geek trivia as if he were your 8th grade history teacher.
Which is fucking stupid. I should not have to pass a fucking quiz to be a geek. I geek, therefore I am. Simple as that.
Hanna Link Love: 4/14/2011
I wanted to include this in the post yesterday, because I love having a wide variety of opinions to compare and contrast with my own chortlings. Gathered from all the bestest sources on the internets…
LINK LOVE:
- Comparing/Contrasting Baby Doll w/ Hanna
- Lots of great comments by other ladiez on Hanna in this mini-article
- Is Hanna a post-female feminist heroine?
- The Village Voice doesn’t think Hanna is all that “feminist”
- Rotten tomatoes mixed bag – currently roosting at 70%
If anyone else has some further Hanna link love to add to the mix, by all means – post away!
Emerald City Comic Con 2011: Day One
DAY ONE RECAP: BSG EXHIBIT, TONY HARRIS CONVO, LGBT PANEL AND BUFFY THE MUSICAL
Day One of Emerald City Comic Con 2011 got off to an early start. We left Portland around 7:30am (after final packing and gassing up the car) and arrived in Seattle around 10:30am. We checked into Sixth Avenue Inn to see if they had a room ready for us, and shockingly it was already prepped.
All the amenities that are important to con-going on a budget were available – free wifi, microwave, and mini-fridge. The only big issues we had were the “flankets” (fake-blankets) and the small ass shower. I had to turn sideways in order to wash my hair or my elbows would have popped out the curtain.
BSG EXHIBIT
Anywho – we unloaded the car, oriented ourselves and then made the long trek up to the Science Fiction Museum. We took a detour and had a delicious pre-BSG Exhibit Thai lunch at Golden Singha. Highly suggest it if you are in that area.
Total photo-bomb ticket scalper in the background.
Finally entered the museum doors and wandered up to the third floor where the exhibit is housed. Upon entering you are greeted by a Cylon frakkin’ Raider complete with rolling red eye. Somewhere there exists a video of me geeking out when I realized that it was…sentient. Well, mock sentient.
Every 10 minutes or so - the magic happens!
Other exciting mysteries include Starbuck’s pilot suit, her for reals dog tags, the infamous Number Six red dress and a gorgeous outfit worn by President Roslin in the opera house scene. The Mark II and Mark IV Vipers were pretty wicked as well…though I would have LOVED to touch and climb into one of them. It wouldn’t hurt for them to make up a fake one that fans could enter and snap a photograph. I would pay EXTRA for that privilege.
I don’t wanna post all the pics here because if you really, really love BSG, you should go and check it out yourself. The exhibit is running through March 4th, 2012. In fact, one of the staff mentioned plans to bring back some cast and crew in the next year to do script readings or signings. I signed up for their mailing list so expect updates.
As we were exiting the exhibit, we met Leyla from Missouri who was super excited to find another female fan. We chatted for quite awhile about Caprica and Blood and Chrome. She definitely inspired me to finish off Caprica and get pumped for Blood and Chrome by referencing how Caprica explains the resurrection ships and ties into the rest of the series. I exchanged info with her and we’re now FB friends – she even picked up a business card from Sarah Hulin for the Starbuck Mandala earrings. You can check out Sarahhoo’s Etsy shop here.
We wandered over to the Museum store and picked up a handsome collection of propaganda posters. We haven’t framed any of them yet, but here’s a sample of them from the store display:
That was just about the end of the BSG exploits, so we trekked back to the hotel and prepped for the con.
EMERALD CITY COMIC CON
We entered the doors, grabbed our badges and toured the floor. It was much more crowded than I remember from 2009 and I was happy to note that the media guests were in a separate section of the convention hall to keep the flow of the show-floor open. We hit up a few booths pretty immediately – Jason Palmer Studios which was a carry-over from SDCC, where Dan purchased this Jayne shirt. They were sporting some gorgeous BSG prints and a new Sereni-Tee design…but we were being cautious about too much spending the first night.
Spreading the Link Love: 7/8/2010
HIGH SCHOOL CHRONICLES OF ARIEL SCHRAG
Thanks to the lovely She Has No Head! column running an article on the Top 10 Webcomics, I was introduced to Ariel Schrag’s Ariel and Kevin Invade Everything. She is the author of four comic books (published in three volumes) chronicling her High School years (1995-1999).
Everyone who was in HS in the mid-to-late-90s should check these books out. Hell, everyone who went to HS in the last two decades would probably be able to find something which resonates with Schrag’s voice and experiences. She drew me in by reminding me so much of a group of my HS friends, and then held me captive for almost 900 pages of illustration and text as she explores her sexuality and attempts to tackle her art, classes and eventually a part-time job – all while preparing herself for college.
My personal favorite is Potential – it garnered her an Eisner award nomination. This one is the documentation of Schrag coming to terms her homosexuality, falling in love for the first time, and suffering through her parents divorce. It’s raw and blisteringly painful but perfectly captures the essence of HS and first love. It was nearly impossible to put down.
My only bone of contention is with the final book – Likewise. It’s far too experimental for my tastes and strays heavily from the format of the first three books. It features blank panels, sketchy scenes and lots of word salad. There is also not a strong feeling of closure, especially since this is the final volume in the autobiographical series. Of course, it doesn’t take much effort to learn that she eventually went to Columbia and spent a few seasons as a writer on The L Word.
What’s compelling is that she was able to conceive, create, publish and distribute this work at such a young age, with seemingly little support from her parents (aside from freedom and funding).
Most of the artistic style featured is cartoonish, but the few sequences where she renders herself and her love interest Sally in full artistic scope are mind-blowing. I would love to see more pieces like that evolving in her work, but she manages to eek a lot of emotion out of the big eyes, skinny limbs and tousled hair of her subjects.
Highly suggested!
Bechdel Test: All three books PASS the women test, two PASS the men test and no books PASS the race test.
tinyheroes
Dan
