I don't know how cleansing this break was. A lot of it was me saying to myself, "ergh, I just don't care about the internet today." Which may sound like nothing, but "the internet" is the community in which I participate to make up for the fact that I have few friends in real life. So I did connect a bit more with them these past couple of weeks, and even made a few new ones. (It's fall, so there's new blood in the department. I'm pretty excited about that.) But I've just been feeling sort of apathetic and ungrounded. Clearly, all those folks who say the internet makes you less sociable and breaks up community are stupid. But I'm back! So let's get me out of this funk with a linkspam.
First, because I like starting with Doctor Who, I ran across this article at Overthinking It in which the author perfectly identifies why season 5 is just not doing it for me--a lack of thematic consistency. So ze re-writes the season to give that consistency, and it's actually pretty fucking amazing. It's also a long read, so bookmark it for later if you need to.
Another longish read about Doctor Who is the beginning of Ryan's fanfic, featuring the ginger Doctor. Yeah, you heard that right. "Leena and Red and Those Who Never Were." It's a million times better than every NuWho book I've ever read, which is a lot of them.
From Julian Abagond at Sociological Images, the perennial question I've heard in the gaming and anime worlds: "Why Do the Japanese Draw Themselves as White?" The answer: they don't. We only think we do because we assume white as default.
"In Defense of Being Crazy": Gayle talks about the importance of self-identification and language use in that process. (Full disclosure: I am actually a big fan of, and have a lot of respect for, both Gayle and s.e. smith from FWD.)
This lovely comic from Ampersand illustrates the sexism behind street harassment and the oft-repeated response that women should take it as a compliment:
I actually got catcalled on the street the other day. I was walking from my apartment to the corner store to get some cokes at about 9 or 9:30, and some dude called out, "Hey baby." (I couldn't see him, because our street is poorly lit. Presumably because there are no sidewalks.) I ignored him. "Hey sexy lady. Come over here!" I walked faster, and I was scared and pissed, because I immediately thought, maybe I should have brought Ryan with me. To walk 2 blocks. It was humiliating to think, even for a second. Fuck.
Transcript:
(A pretty thin woman in a yellow dress in from of a fake pink castle interior.)
If you find a man who's big and hairy and beastly and it seems like he wants to hurt you, buuut he's got a lot of money and a really big house, stick it out, you can change him.
(She does a little dance as the title "Advice for Young Girls From a Cartoon Princess" appears in chunky hot pink letter.)
Desire is when a man wants you so much that he's willing to yell at you and beat down your door and tell you if you don't eat with him, you don't eat at all. It also kinda means he wants you to be skinny.
There was once a really hot, successful man who was very goal-oriented and extremely popular who wanted to marry me, but I didn't feel like it was enough of a challenge. Never settle for something that doesn't feel like it's a challenge.
I don't like the term "beastiality;" it sounds...blegh. I like the term "interspeciality" because it sounds like "special."
Find a man who wants to imprison you with his love. The longer that you're trapped with the same person, it will start to feel like home. Stockholm!
You don't need to have fancy people friends. Things around your house can be your friends. Don't just sit on furniture--talk to it. Candlesticks are really good at love advice because they're French!
The key to love is to tolerate everything. Oh god...everything.
The lesson here is beauty is in the eye of the beholder--as long as the woman is good looking.
Um, YOU'RE WELCOME. This was one of my favorite Disney movies growing up. (I used to have a Beauty and the Beast tent set up on my bed, that I slept in. Maybe this is why I'm claustrophobic.) So I love this video inordinately.
