Change Is A Sound

"The American Psychiatric Association recently released an updated version of its manual of mental..."

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:35:37 -0400

“The American Psychiatric Association recently released an updated version of its manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) and this time it includes a new addition: Caffeine withdrawal.”

- Caffeine withdrawal now classified as a mental disorder. Quick, Orwell to the rescue! (Also see how we came to depend on coffee so deeply.)

Not yet ready to be mentally ill, at least in that way? Might as well learn how to make the perfect cup of coffee.

(via explore-blog)

And so it begins ...

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:33:37 -0400

The kid now has a favorite band, and the band in question is American Nightmare. She also expressed interest in punk and hardcore, which calls for a mix. And mixes? They’re something of a specialty around these parts.

One CD, one song per band (I wasn’t horrifically strict - that would have meant leaving out Minor Threat or Fugazi, and Pegboy or Naked Raygun) and it had to fit in 80 minutes while also touching on classics, some forgotten/overlooked/underappreciated stuff, showing the diversity of what can be considered hardcore (the punk songs here are more hardcore than not, and usually just reflect a regional approach to the form) as well as reflecting regional scene difference and appealing to an 11-year-old kid. In looking at it, it focuses a bit much on more recent (last 10-15 years) hardcore and punk but it flows great and sounds awesome and she’ll never be able to say “Gorilla who?”

Here’s the result:

American Nightmare - Love American
Fucked Up - Queen Of Hearts
Trial By Fire - One Last Gasp
Dag Nasty - Under Your Influence
59 Times The Pain - Need No Alibi
Bombshell Rocks - Warpath
H2O - Everready
Good Riddance - Mother Superior
Propagandhi - … And We Thought That Nation-States Were A Bad Idea
Fuel - Remains To Be Seen
Refused - New Noise
Minor Threat - Out Of Step
7 Seconds - Walk Together, Rock Together
Fastbreak - Good Dreams Or None At All
Fairweather - Young, Brash, Hopeful
Gorilla Biscuits - New Direction
Bad Religion - Modern Man
Black Train Jack - Time
In My Eyes - Making Sense
Avail - Scuffle Town
Grade - The Tension Between Stillness And Motion
The Explosion - Deliver Us
Pegboy - Field Of Darkness
Naked Raygun - Soldier’s Requiem
Reach The Sky - A Year And A Smile
Good Clean Fun - Positive Hardcore
Fugazi - Merchandise
Lifetime - Ostrichsized
Bane - Ali V. Frazier I

So funny story

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:43:03 -0400

leaguerulesfrownupon:

Tony Daniel, writer of such classics [insert sarcasm font] Battle for the Cowl is currently writing Action Comics. I will not comment on the quality of that book because it’s inconsequential, but lets just say it ain’t on a my pull list. In his most recent issue he has Clark say to Jimmy that he’s been “friend zoned”. If you’re following me you don’t need to be told why the idea of friend zoning is sexist, but after seeing a post on here about how someone confronted him about it I went to see if he’d apologized. He had not. So I decided that I would add my voice to what I hope will be others. Let’s just say, he did not take kindly to it.

Now before I keep posting I want to make a point of where I was trying to say here. It’s something that Smooth did in his post but really Bomani Jones said once on Hoop Speak. No one has racism or sexism repellent. It’s something we all grow up with and it becomes a part of us. My goal here was to say that the thing he did was sexist, not that he was sexist. Spoiler alert, he did not take it that way

At this point I’m a little angry. I’m tired from my second day of boxing class, my arms are shaking, and this guy cannot be bothered to consider he may be wrong. But I tried to remain civil. I asked if he’d read the article the other girl sent.

When I tried to reply to him again, just to try and point him towards something that may cause him to in some way reflect on the matter. But when I tried I got this

I was blocked! I’m actually kinda happy about this because I’ve never been blocked before. And I mean I’m on NBA twitter so I’ve fought with people before plenty. I have never been blocked though. As my friend Giselle said, Achievement Unlocked.

After this I mentioned it to Tris because I thought this was great. She decided to jump in.

Heads up that for my own sake the tweets now go from earliest to latest.

And then there was this little stretch

So now we’re both blocked. We’re blocked buddies. I guess that’s like being the Bash Brothers for D2: Mighty Ducks? I’m going to pretend it is. Just wanted to throw this up on here because I thought it was funny.

kellysue: I’ve got three things I’ve got to get turned in...

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 19:36:27 -0400

kellysue:

I’ve got three things I’ve got to get turned in today, two kids to get fed and dressed and a bag to pack and a flight to catch, so I can’t respond to this the way I’d like, but I’m putting it here so I don’t forget.

I also need to let my temper subside a bit. If I were to reply right now I’d resort to name-calling and insults and we all know there’s no ground to be gained there.

Instead, when I’m not shaking anymore, I’ll recount my career trajectory AGAIN. [Magazine writer/research assistant—>comic reviewer—>7 years /10K+ pages adapting manga into English—>anthology shorts—>co-writing gigs—>one-shots—>minis—->ongoings]

Maybe I’ll get Alejandro Arbona to attest—AGAIN!—that I was blind-submitted for my first gig at Marvel. I’ll offer that if you’re looking for Men to Credit for My Career, you should look first to Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Peter Rose, Steve Niles and Jamie Rich — all of whom were responsible for making introductions or getting me chances to submit my work well before Matt Fraction had any pull in the industry. (I’ll also state in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t sleeping with any of those men, because I know, dear Anon, that is your next assumption.) Or Brian Bendis, who had championed my work in a way I will never be able to adequately thank him for. (Ditto Steve Wacker.)

(Also not sleeping with Brian or Steve, just so we’re clear.)

Maybe I’ll ponder why it isn’t Fraction who’s considered to have benefited from nepotism. After all, more than 10 years ago now, Matt Fraction was my plus one to Joe Quesada’s 40th birthday party and it was me who sent copies of Last of the Independents to Joe and Axel. I mean, clearly, it was those gestures that got Fraction his career — certainly not the merit of his work, right? I mean, come on — those Hawkeye Eisner noms are part mine, right?

(I can’t imagine how sick Fraction must be of hearing me tell that story. But I bet it’s not half as sick of it as I am.)

(The first person I met in the industry was Wil Rosado. Through him, the first editors I met were Andy Ball, who’s since moved on, and Joey Cavalieri. Just in case anybody wants to make a chart. This would be… maybe 4 years before I met Fraction, Gillen, Ellis, McKelvie et al on the WEF.)

Okay, deep breath.

Bendis is going to tell me that I shouldn’t acknowledge this, that I’m feeling trolls, but here’s the pickle: people deny that this happens. We’re told that the insults to our dignity working women face are in our imagination, that it’s a thing of sexy Mad Men past. It’s WOMEN who make this a thing, right? (Hysterical, don’t you know.) We’re to the point where I meet young women who won’t identify as feminists because the struggle is over and it’s only a thing if you make it one.

Bullshit.

It’s not a natural assumption to leap to the conclusion that I got my job because of my marriage. It’s the product of deeply-ingrained sexist thinking. I can name for you a half a dozen men who did, in fact, get their first big two gigs because of who they knew and their dignity and their qualifications have never been called into question. I’m lucky if I go a week.

I was recently directed to a post on a snake pit of a message board (what was I thinking, even going to look?) by a man I’d known as long as I’d known my husband, a man I’d met at the same time—a man who had felt free to ask professional favors of me on multiple occasions—who was lamenting how “easily” I’d gotten to where I was because of Fraction. When friends of mine pointed him to my CV, he half-apologized because he had no idea. Apparently he thought Marvel—a publicly-owned company—was in the habit of handing out gigs to freelancer’s wives just for kicks. Then he threw up the bit about it being a natural assumption.

I would say simply ‘fuck that guy’ and chalk it up to his not being half as smart as he thinks he is, but here’s the thing:

That guy has daughters.

For them, and for my daughter and for your daughter, I am going to occasionally shine a light on these things… even though it both enrages and embarrasses me.

I don’t know if it’s the right call, but I know that ‘ignore it and it’ll go away’ isn’t working.

I need to figure out a way to contain my outrage enough to talk about it in a way that doesn’t attack, but invites dudes like Anon to rethink their ‘natural assumptions’ without setting myself up as an uppity bitch that they’re invested in proving wrong.

I… I clearly don’t know how to do that right now. But I’m going to figure it out.

Later.

Right now, the kids need breakfast and my son has questions about the xenomorph that can’t wait another second.

I’m out.

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network: Autistic Writers, Journalists, and Editors: We want you!

Fri, 31 May 2013 11:51:00 -0400

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network: Autistic Writers, Journalists, and Editors: We want you!:

autisticadvocacy:

ASAN is looking for autistic writers for our communications team! We need volunteers with strong writing, journalism, or editing skills who are comfortable writing in a variety of formats (short informational articles, longer writeups and interviews, tipsheets and factsheets, news blurbs, action…

"Evolution … is the central, enabling process not only of life but also of knowledge and learning and..."

Thu, 30 May 2013 13:37:43 -0400

“Evolution … is the central, enabling process not only of life but also of knowledge and learning and understanding. If you attempt to make sense of the world of ideas and meanings, free will and morality, art and science and even philosophy itself without a sound and quite detailed knowledge of evolution, you have one hand tied behind your back.”

- Essential reading from Daniel Dennett, one of our greatest living philosophers. (via explore-blog)

lemonsweetie: Let me tell you a thing, about an amazing man...

Thu, 30 May 2013 01:36:44 -0400

lemonsweetie:

Let me tell you a thing, about an amazing man named Patrick Stewart

I went to Comicpalooza this weekend and I was full of nervous energy as I was standing in line to ask Sir Patrick Stewart a question at his panel. I first had to thank him for a speech he had given at amnesty international about domestic violence towards women . I had only seen it a few months ago but I was still dealing with my own personal experience with a similar issue, and I didn’t know what to call it. After seeing Patrick talk so personally about it I finally was able to correctly call it abuse, in my case sexual abuse that was going to quickly turn into physical abuse as well. I didn’t feel guilty or disgusting anymore. I finally didn’t feel responsible for the abuse that was put upon me. I was finally able to start my healing process and to put that part of my life behind me.

After thanking him I asked him “Besides acting, what are you most proud of that you have done in you life (that you are willing to share with us)?”. Sir Patrick told us about how he couldn’t protect his mother from abuse in his household growing up and so in her name works with an organization called Refuge for safe houses for women and children to escape from abusive house holds. Sir Patrick Stewart learned only last year that his father had actually been suffering from PTSD after he returned from the military and was never properly treated. In his father’s name he works with an organization called Combat Stress to help those soldiers who are suffering from PTSD.

They were about to move onto the next question when Sir Patrick looked at me and asked me “My Dear, are you okay?” I said yes, and that I was finally able to move on from that part of my life. He then passionately said that it is never the woman’s fault in domestic violence, and how wrong to think that it ever is. That it is in the power of men to stop violence towards women. The moderator then asked “Do you want a hug?”

Sir Patrick didn’t even hesitate, he smiled, hopped off the stage and came over to embrace me in a hug. Which he held me there for a long while. He told me “You never have to go through that again, you’re safe now.” I couldn’t stop thanking him. His embrace was so warm and genuine. It was two people, two strangers, supporting and giving love. And when we pulled away he looked strait in my eyes, like he was promising that. He told me to take care. And I will.

Sir Patrick Stewart is an absolute roll model for men. He is an amazing man and was so kind and full of heart. I want to let everyone know to please find help if you are in a violent or abusive house hold or relationship. There are organizations and people ready to help. I had countless people after the panel thanking me for sharing the story and asking him those questions. Many said they went through similar things. You are not alone.

X

^ Here is the video of my question to Sir Patrick Stewart

Photos by Eugene Lee, Thank you

nick-edwards: CAVE SHRINE - first episode (pages 1 and 2) New...

Sun, 26 May 2013 00:40:12 -0400

nick-edwards:

CAVE SHRINE - first episode (pages 1 and 2)

New webcomic updates every Thursday

arcaneimages: I’d like to talk about Dragon*con one last time....

Fri, 24 May 2013 14:28:02 -0400

arcaneimages:

I’d like to talk about Dragon*con one last time. As I’ve said before I will not ever attend this con because Ed Kramer who awaits trial for child molestation still receives money from Dragon*con. To me it’s so obvious. Children’s safety comes before anything else, including my need to attend a con, wear a costume or whatever.

Seems obvious but so many, too many so-called caring fans are not only still giving money to this con, but actively defending it. If you want your money to go to the defense of a child molester then I have nothing to say to you. I find it disgusting. Dragon*con and those who defend it are a scar on fandom that makes me ashamed to be a fan.

Believe me, I am sympathetic to the innocent victims of what Kramer did, not only the kids, but also fans and con organizers. But what’s done is done. It can’t be fixed and can’t be swept under the rug so it’s time for Dragon*Con to grow a pair, step up to the plate and do what’s right. New con. Same city. Done.

So you don’t think I’m just blathering off, I have been in a situation like this. A few years back I did several books for a major publisher. One day I turn on the news and bang, the artist had been arrested for distribution of child pornography. I didn’t bitch and whine about how it affected me. Instead we all agreed it was best for those books to go away. That’s what had to be done. For the kids who this animal violated. It’s not about me keeping a book in print and lining my pockets. It’s about doing the right thing.

So there’s that. I’m sorry a long running popular con has a pedophile in their ranks, but instead of continuing to victimize these kids (now men seeking justice) it’s time for everybody in fandom to show the world we aren’t a bunch of selfish nerds, but caring humans who love and respect others. Is that so much to ask for?

The way we spend our money is very powerful. Let’s use that power for good

Thanks for listening.

-Steve

Convictions are not convenient. They are things that we believe in so strongly that we value them above things we enjoy, even things that put food on the table. They are the foundation of any ethical system, and critical to living a life without (or at least with minimal) cognitive dissonance.

Perhaps more to the point, convictions are the ideas that allow you to sleep at night and look in the mirror, knowing that whatever else you did that day, you did not betray yourself.

powered by hate: XBOX ONE: One Weird Tip Microsoft Learned to Antagonize Everybody

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:50:17 -0400

designislaw:

It has been a sad, sad several years to be a man who just wanted a box to hook up to his television and play games on the big screen. From derivative sequels, to bad peripherals, to exploitative downloadable content plans, to faulty online pass schemes, wanting to play games and be left alone…

This. Totally this.

"Why Society Still Needs Feminism Because to men, a key is a device to open something. For women,..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:05:10 -0400

“

Why Society Still Needs Feminism

Because to men, a key is a device to open something. For women, it’s a weapon we hold between our fingers when we’re walking alone at night.

Because the biggest insult for a guy is to be called a “pussy,” a “little bitch” or a “girl.” From here on out, being called a “pussy” is an effing badge of honor.

Because last month, my politics professor asked the class if women should have equal representation in the Supreme Court, and only three out of 42 people raised their hands.

Because rape jokes are still a thing.

Because despite being equally broke college kids, guys are still expected to pay for dates, drinks and flowers.

Because as a legit student group, Campus Fellowship does not allow women to lead anything involving men. Look, I know Eve was dumb about the whole apple and snake thing, but I think we can agree having a vagina does not directly impact your ability to lead a
college organization.

Because it’s assumed that if you are nice to a girl, she owes you sex — therefore, if she turns you down, she’s a bitch who’s put you in the “friend zone.” Sorry, bro, women are not machines you put kindness coins into until sex falls out.

Because only 29 percent of American women identify as feminist, and in the words of author Caitlin Moran, “What part of ‘liberation for women’ is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? Did all that good shit get on your nerves? Or were you just drunk at the time
of the survey?”

Because when people hear the term feminist, they honestly think of women burning bras. Dude, have you ever bought a bra? No one would burn them because they’re freaking
expensive.

Because Rush Limbaugh.

Because we now have a record number of women in the Senate … which is a measly 20 out of 100. Congrats, USA, we’ve gone up to 78th place for women’s political representation, still below China, Rwanda and Iraq.

Because recently I had a discussion with a couple of well-meaning Drake University guys, and they literally could not fathom how catcalling a woman walking down University Avenue is creepy and sexist.
Could. Not. Fathom.

Because on average, the tenured male professors at Drake make more than the tenured female professors.

Because more people on campus complain about chalked statistics regarding sexual assault than complain about the existence of sexual assault. Priorities? Have them.

Because 138 House Republicans voted against the Violence Against Women Act. All 138 felt it shouldn’t provide support for Native women, LGBT people or immigrant women. I’m kind of confused by this, because I thought LGBT people and women of color were also human beings.
Weird, right?

Because a girl was roofied last semester at a local campus bar, and I heard someone say they think she should have been more careful. Being drugged is her fault, not the fault of the person who put drugs in her drink?

Because Chris Brown beat Rihanna so badly she was hospitalized, yet he still has fans and bestselling songs and a tattoo of an abused woman on his neck.

Because out of 7 billion people on the planet, more than 1 billion women will be raped or beaten in their lifetimes. Women and girls have their clitorises cut out, acid thrown on them and broken bottles shoved up them as an act of war. Every second of every day. Every corner of the Earth.

Because the other day, another friend of mine told me she was raped, and I can no longer count on both my hands the number of friends who have told me they’ve been sexually assaulted. Words can’t express how scared I am that I’m getting used to this.

Because a brief survey of reality will tell you that we do not live in a world that values all people equally and that sucks in real, very scary ways. Because you know we live in a sexist world when an awesome thing with the name “feminism” has a weird connotation. Because if I have kids someday, I want my son to be able to have emotions and play dress up, and I want my daughter to climb trees and care more about what’s in her head than what’s on it. Because I don’t want her to carry keys between her fingers at night to
protect herself.

Because feminism is for everybody, and this is your official invitation.

”

- Caitlin O’Donnell, Drake University. (via on-another-note)

The Eternal Internet Argument

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:41:48 -0400

More than 20 years ago, when I first started using the Internet, it was a wildly different place. The most fundamental difference was that people needed to know at least a little bit about UNIX to access anything.

Another key difference is that Usenet newsgroups were the primary means of discussion - subscribing to a newsgroup meant seeing threaded conversations organized in topics, and everyone subscribed to that newsgroup saw the posts. Discussions began from the same point, and anyone interested in it could read everything said to that point. Information wasn’t centralized per se, but it was easy (provided people knew about newsgroups) to see where a discussion or debate started and how it had evolved, as well as read the dissenting comments. (Compare this to today’s Internet where information is spread across thousands of echo chamber sites which isolate people from criticism or alternate viewpoints, or allow the majority of site users to drown out dissenting voices.)

As a result, it was relatively easy to see how the structure of online debating fell into patterns, as a dear friend’s ex told me while he was showing me how to subscribe to newsgroups.

He said, using a music newsgroup as his example, that there were only three arguments:

Band A is the best thing ever.
Band A is not the best thing ever; in fact, it sucks.
If Band A sucks, what should I be listening to?

He was right.

Not long after, a band called Whale released a single called “Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe.” The video received some airplay on MTV, but it was that weird point in the 1990s where calling anything alternative meant it would sell 100,000 copies or more, and so Whale became a thing on Usenet for about half a second and the three arguments were laid bare.

Whale is the best thing ever.
No, you’re wrong, Whale is terrible.
And, inevitably, the question followed: If Whale sucks, what should I listen to instead?

(Sadly, the correct answer to that question was never determined despite endless debate and suggestions. Even then, finding or building consensus was difficult.)

Today, this argument still exists. It’s just that what we debate is less trivial because the argument form applies to politics, gender, parenting, values and morals and ethics, religion, racism, the Oxford comma and so on. The argument form displayed in newsgroups like alt.music.alternative still exists today, and is only slightly different in form:

Thing 1 is the best thing ever.
Thing 1 is not the best thing ever; in fact, it sucks.
If Thing 1 sucks, what else is there?

The primary change is that the third item in the list is no longer a genuine question; it’s a rhetorical device which the poster typically thinks is the ultimate gotcha argument (e.g. “well, if gays can marry, then people can marry their cat or a rock or a tree or something! Ha ha!”). A responder typically offers Thing 2 as an answer and the cycle repeats.

Seriously. Think of every argument you have ever had on the Internet. Comics. Shipping. Movies. Music. Politics. Almost all of them follow this form. This may seem like a reductio ad absurdum argument, but it really isn’t. I’m not trying to reduce the argument form to basic elements to mock it or to claim that an absurd or undesirable outcome follows - I’m just pointing out that there is a fundamental, underlying structure to arguing on the Internet which does not change.

And it doesn’t change because most people are set in their ideas, which is why arguing on the Internet is so comical. It really isn’t a debate - it’s an argument between two people who usually hold unshakeable beliefs, and no amount of discussion or dissent will change that. It’s one person espousing an idea, then another person with an opposing viewpoint attacking that idea and advancing their own.

The third step, when it occurs, is often a reductio ad absurdum argument (e.g. if gays and lesbians are allowed to marry then the next step is people being able to marry inanimate objects or animals or imaginary concepts) or a rhetorical device that the poster thinks will end the argument. Only in extraordinarily rare cases is it a sincere question seeking more information because the poster is considering the subject seriously and might be swayed by evidence.

And really, that’s why arguing on the Internet is stupid. It doesn’t change minds or opinions. It’s just yelling at a wall.

Asking questions, on the other hand - provided the person asking is genuinely curious and wants to understand something outside their experience and ideas - is an entirely different matter.

MA'AM: Men Against Assholes & Misogyny.

Sun, 12 May 2013 17:17:00 -0400

It’s difficult to think of a place to start with something like this. Simple is good, my brain reasons, so let’s start simple.

I’m a dude.

Just a random dude living somewhere in the Midwest with three cats, a totally rad girlfriend, a significant amount of fabric for quilting, somewhere in the neighborhood of half a ton of comic books, a lot of video games, and even more old records and CDs.

No, you probably don’t know me and it’s unlikely you’d know or be even vaguely familiar with anything I’ve done. If you paid really close attention to punk rock for something like the last 25 years, you might have seen my name pop up in a zine or being thanked for something in the liner notes of a record, but really, at the end of the day, I’m just a dude, getting through the hours as best as I know how.

Along the way, I stumbled into the life of a child who was just a baby when I met her. Her mom and I split up years ago, but I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to remain in the kid’s life.

She’s 11 now. And I worry.

I try to pass on every bit of useful knowledge I know or have picked up over the years. How to negotiate. How to argue like a lawyer. How to use facts and empirical evidence and reason to overcome arguments based in emotion. How to demand that claims be supported by facts. How to examine the world like a scientist and test hypotheses. How, in short, to build her own bullshit detector, calibrate it, turn it on and keep it running.

I put her in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes so that she would know how to defend herself if she ever needed to, reasoning that the emphasis on leverage would benefit her since she’s a kid and if she ever needed it, it would likely be needed when someone larger has created a problem. When she didn’t want to continue, I asked a friend of mine to come show her basic self-defense. At that point, we stopped talking about leverage and began talking about how to hurt an attacker badly enough that she can get away (stressing that none of it is ever to be used on the playground). As my mom always used to tell me, if it came down to a point where she needed to defend herself, she’d rather be alive and able to hire an attorney to defend her in court against a civil suit or criminal charges than dead because she obeyed the law.

And yet I still worry.

You see, my little girl is turning into a nerd, and I mean that in the absolute best possible way. She loves science and comics and “Warehouse 13” and “Doctor Who.” She’s beginning to appreciate “Firefly,” and she liked the few episodes of “Primeval” that we watched. I read “The Hobbit” to her - start to finish - as a bedtime story. We started “The Lord Of The Rings,” but then she seemed to get bored with it, even though she recently made me promise that we would go see every “Hobbit” movie together (remember, she’s 11). Now she’s a fan of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, and I’m reading H.P. Lovecraft stories to her before she goes to sleep (which may sound like I’m the worst parental figure ever, but we analyze Lovecraft’s racism and sexism every time it pops up so she can learn how to peel rhetoric apart and see what’s hidden in its layers, and seriously, have you read Lovecraft lately? The stuff is so dated that comics for kids are scarier now). “Skate 3” is one of her favorite video games and we rocked “Portal 2” co-op play hard. We’d sit and analyze a room and talk about it to figure out the puzzle. I’m really proud that she figured out more puzzles than I did.

And this is what I worry about.

She’s entering fandom. And it can be a brutal, ugly place, populated by ill-mannered and intolerant people. There’s the fake geek girl mess. There’s the James Gunn thing (and I’m still wondering why no one is bothered by the content he wrote for “Lollipop Chainsaw”). There’s that Tony Harris thing. There is constant bombardment on every side by unrealistic body types, privilege, entitlement and so on.

And almost all of it boils down to “I’m a straight white dude, pander to me.” Or “I don’t understand why you’re all getting so upset over what I said, you must just be too sensitive. Or you’re on your period. It can’t possibly be that I said something offensive, because reverse racism OMFG wharrrrrrgarrrrbl DIE IN A FIRE TITS OR GTFO trololollol!!!!!”

And honestly, doesn’t that really capture parts of the Internet? A bunch of guys saying some of their best friends are [whatever] and they didn’t see a problem with it? Or telling people that they need to get a sense of humor because they didn’t understand the funneh? Or that they aren’t smart enough to understand their sophisticated brand of sarcasm or satire? It’s never that they are the problem, even though they always seem to be involved in the problem … it’s always someone else’s issue.

To return to my point, my little girl is 11. And she likes comics and video games, two interests where many of the worst excesses appear (the #1reasonwhy and #fakegeekgirl hashtags on Twitter were perfect examples).

And so, for as long as I can, I let her enjoy this stuff free of the nonsense she will inevitably face. I prepare her, as best as I can. It’s different than my punk rock days, when a guy trying to push a girl out of the pit would often get leveled, frequently by the girl he tried to ostracize (and it was so amazing to see). I have to prepare her rhetorically, and teach her how to use reason to take off and nuke them from orbit, because it’s the only way to be sure.

And also, that if some dude tells her to get in the kitchen and make him a sandwich, that an appropriate response is “Are you too lazy to do it, or do you seriously not know how to make a sandwich? Are you really failing so badly at life that you are unable to throw some crap on a piece of bread and cover it with another piece of bread? No wonder you’re playing Black Ops 2 at 11:30 on Saturday night.”

That’s why I’m against assholes and misogyny. Because my little girl deserves a better world than the one I lived in, and I want to help create that world for her. Because she deserves to not go through the same things my mom went through, or that any of my girlfriends or platonic friends have gone through. Because she deserves a world in which the quality of her ideas and contributions is determined by their merit, not her gender.

Because she deserves better than this.

abellandapomegranate: Remember that time Disney made a movie...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:52:43 -0500

abellandapomegranate:

Remember that time Disney made a movie about intercultural unconventional PoC families trying to deal with CPS, unemployment, racism, colonialism, grief, and anger, and nobody was a princess?

I know, it seems pretty improbable.

Ohana. I have Stitches sitting on my desk, even now. That movie made me cry.

The Big Bang Theory Women Go to a Comic Shop; How Was It?

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:25:37 -0500

dcwomenkickingass:

The CBS show The Big Bang Theory drew some criticism this week when the promo for this week’s episode featured the women of the show entering a comic shop with the voice over saying “the girls go where no woman has gone before”.

The promo is suggesting that women don’t go into comic shops, or read comics reinforcing yet another set of stereotypes about geek culture.

The idea that women don’t go into comics shops or read comics is a fallacy, of course. You only need to flip through the three years of the Women Read Comics in Public if you need convincing (which if you do WHY ARE HERE?)

So when a show like TBBT helps to spread a frustrating stereotype that I spend like a lot of time fighting it really pisses me off.

But I decided to watch the episode because just as in comics sometimes the teasers don’t exactly adhere to what they are teasing. So how was the actual show in depicting the reception of the women? I took a look at some stereotypes about women and comics and comic shops and rated the episode.

Read More

I read this blog entry from DC Women Kicking Ass before watching last week’s episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” and after the episode aired, I talked about it with my girlfriend, who also reads comics and is a huge Plasticman and Wonder Woman fan.

I’m writing about it here because I have a nagging worry that the column and show suggest I might have some form of gender bias at work when I recommend books to people.

I have spent a fair bit of time at my LCS, and as part of that, it’s not uncommon for me to end up talking to an adult looking for an age-appropriate book for a kid or talking with someone who is looking for something new to read.

And I have recommended “Fables” to at least a couple of women who were looking to dip their toes into the comic world.

Now, I never thought of “Fables” as a comic targeting women. I read it, a few male friends of mine read it, and we talk about it, which might sound hilarious - dudes sitting around, talking about fairy tales in comics (this is the sort of thing that happens when you have an English literature degree).

When I’ve recommended it in the past, it’s always after talking to someone who is curious about comics or looking for something new and trying to get a feel for what they like. It’s usually part of a list of a couple of other books, even if I do think the person might like “Fables” best.

And here are a few reasons why:

—————

1. Ease Of Entry

“Fables” doesn’t have decades of continuity behind it. It doesn’t require knowing about alternate universe depictions of a character or different types of that character’s fatal weakness, etc. You pick up the first trade and you’re off to the races.

2. Familiarity

Pretty much everyone knows at least some of the characters in “Fables.” Snow White. The Big Bad Wolf. Beauty And The Beast. Old King Cole. And so on. And dovetailing with the first point, knowing some of the characters makes it a bit easier to dive in. Readers spend less time wondering who this person or that person is, because there’s prior knowledge of a character.

3. Cost

The first trade collection of “Fables” usually hovers around $10. That’s a much easier risk to take than a $20 book for a new or returning comic reader.

4. Writing

The writing in “Fables” is pretty damn good. The characters are fleshed out and flawed. The stories are actually mature, rather than graphic sex and violence trying to seem like content for adults. And as the comic store owner in “Big Bang Theory” mentioned, the women aren’t just eye candy or plot devices.

5. Depiction Of Women

As briefly noted in the above paragraph, the women in “Fables” aren’t helpless. They are just as capable and smart and resourceful and tough as the guys. They fight in wars, engage in covert ops, plot and scheme, and raise hell at least as well as - if not better than - any of the guys. To me, seeing a positive reflection of yourself in a book is important to a reader, and it’s something that I’m tremendously conscious of when it comes to my little girl, and something I was made painfully aware of when DC restored Barbara Gordon’s ability to walk.

—————

It isn’t that I only recommend “Fables” to women; it’s usually one of a few books I mention that I think the potential reader might find appealing after finding out what they like. “The Unwritten” is quickly becoming a go-to book to recommend to new or returning readers, and I’m happy to suggest “Lucifer” to “Sandman” fans who aren’t aware that book exists.

But the point remains that if someone doesn’t express an interest in capes, quite a few books in a comic shop (I’d hazard a guess of 75-80%) instantly become poor recommendations. And of the books that remain, is there a better place to start? “Preacher” or “Transmetropolitan,” perhaps? “The Invisibles,” if that isn’t too close to being superhero fare? “DMZ”? If “Local” is in stock, I’ll put that in someone’s hands without a second thought, but for me, “Fables” is an outstanding choice for a variety of reasons, including positive gender representation and depiction, comparatively low cost, lack of continuity, familiarity with characters and so on, not because I think of it as a comic for girls.

Yet I’m still left with this troubling feeling that recommending “Fables” might be a reflection of some ghostly gender bias drifting around in the back of my brain.

And that bothers me, because when I’m in that situation, all I want to do is put a book in someone’s hands because I think they’ll fall in love with it, the same way I fell in love with “Local” and “Fables” and “Demo” and “Preacher” and “Transmet” and “Ex Machina” and “Planetary” and “The Unwritten” and … well, you get the idea.

explore-blog: How long it would take you to travel across the...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:11:00 -0500

explore-blog:

How long it would take you to travel across the U.S. in the 1800s and early 1900s – a striking visualization of the explosive growth of travel and technology.

A weird thought from a bubble bath.

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:05:49 -0500

So last night, I took a bath and read Northlanders (after dumping some lavender something or other in the tub which made it foamy).

The bubbles gradually dissipated, as they are wont to do, leaving only the tiniest remaining spheres of soap or oil or whatever the hell the lavender stuff was made of.

And this is one of the moments when my extreme nearsightedness benefited me, because while my long-range vision is terrible, anything about three inches from my face is extraordinarily clear.

I watched a cluster of bubbles pull other bubbles in.

Now, I’m sure all of this has long been analyzed and explained and mathematically proven by someone (and probably lots of people) who is much smarter than myself, but I watched bubbles get sucked in, time and again.

It made me think of the event horizon of a black hole, and observe bubbles from that viewpoint, noting that smaller bubbles could get closer to the cluster before being pulled in than larger ones. Yes, it’s in a fluid system and not vacuum, but I still wondered if smaller bodies could get closer to a black hole than larger ones without being drawn in. Or maybe it’s pure cohesion, and the bubbles which popped long before left enough of a residue on the surface of the water to pull the bubbles in.

It’s been a long time since I seriously dug into science, but this feels like something I want to explore, even though it’s just for my own curiosity.

notasenator: incredibeard: fightingjoker: fuckmegentlywithawin...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:40:20 -0500

notasenator:

incredibeard:

fightingjoker:

fuckmegentlywithawinonaryder:

Omg you need to WATCH THIS TED TALK RIGHT NOW

It’s (almost entierly non-problematic) feminist: yes

It talks about social ques given to children through kid’s movies and the whole Magical Quest trope: yes

It talks about raising boys to respect women in a way that’s not just chilvarly: yes

It’s written by a man: yes

THIS! I am so doing this!

I’ve secretly believed that mass media has been producing sexual assailants for years, actually. I’m glad someone with a TED Talk has finally said it.

This is a fantastic video, and holds a lot of weight with me personally.

blacksoaps: Finally saw Django Unchained. Honestly, I was...

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:05:03 -0500

blacksoaps:

Finally saw Django Unchained. Honestly, I was beginning to have reservations about seeing it given early returns about “amoral” and “cartoonish” violence. Fortunately, I didn’t listen to those critiques. Other thoughts:

1. Immediately, the movie reminded me of how dope Mario van Peeble’s “Posse” could have been if it had QT’s budget, and a better screenplay.

2. It also reminds me of the immense debt that Quentin Tarantino owes to Mario’s father Melvin van Peebles.

3. This movie is as much a polemic on whiteness, if not more, as it is a black slave revenge fantasy. Anyone who judges this movie purely on its black characters missed a huge point.

4. It’s also a critique on the white liberal/progressive/abolitionist. Dr. Schulz — the white character who frees Jamie Foxx’s Django character — carries the same smugness, condescension, patronizing and patriarchal attitude of many white liberals today. He basically spends the first half of the movie Man’splaining and Caucus’splaining things to Django. Some of it is necessary, given that black people of this era were uneducated by law. But the attitude that comes with it is pure white liberal privilege in all of its glibness and glitz.

5. Jamie Foxx’s Django is one of the coolest characters period in the history of American cinema, though QT did not allow us to witness the full process Django underwent to obtain his coolness and prowess, the way we witnessed Beatrix’ (Uma Thurmann) process in Kill Bill

6. It would have been nice to have a Harriet Tubman in the film, and sooner rather than later all these white people making movies referencing black slavery era are gonna have to build stronger black women characters.

7. Yes, the movie reinforces the false dichotomy of the “house nigger”/ “field nigger” illustration, but QT was not trying to make the same point as Malcolm X when he made that illustration.

8. Anyone who thinks the violence in this movie was cartoonish either is supremely naive about the barbaric reality of slavery and/or has never seen a Spaghetti Western. The latter is forgivable, the former is not.

9. Judging this movie and its messages in terms of historical accuracy is like measuring the messages of the Bible, or the Epic of Gilgamesh based on historical accuracy. In both cases, you would be far off point. Django is more allegory than history.

10. There is nothing “amoral” about Django. He clearly struggles with pulling the trigger and is in fact paralyzed by the prospect in the first half of the movie. In the second half, he’s witnessed and experienced enough atrocity that pulling the trigger is roughly as moral as the shooting and killing of bin Laden. It should be noted that it’s really only white critics who find Django’s killings “immoral” or “amoral.”

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Mon, 24 Dec 2012 12:01:34 -0500