Web Crush Wednesdays: The Onion

In honor of the upcoming inauguration, I give you a political-themed Web Crush featuring The Onion.

This Web Crush starts with a story. The other day, I was telling the sophomore boy I chauffeur for that I had seen The Hobbit. I was telling him I liked it, but a it was little long. He told me he read that there was a 53 minute scene where Bilbo tells him what to pack. I informed him that it wasn’t true. He told me it was since he read from an online newspaper. I asked which one; he told me The Onion. And I proceeded to laugh at him for not figuring out it was satire.

In case you aren’t a news junkie, The Onion is a satirical newspaper that mostly follows political events. Most of their stories are extremely over-the-top, and well executed. For example, they named Kim Jong Un their sexiest man alive. A bunch of newspapers actually thought it was real and reprinted the article. The articles are funny in and of themselves, but they become funnier when someone actually thinks they’re legit.

If you are in DC, they also have hard copies that you can get free on the street. However, they are always the first ones to be taken. I know this is a Web Crush, but I have a personal preference for the hard copy. Nothing was funnier than their weekly weather reports and those are only in the hard copy.

And yes, it’s always fun to run into the stray person who thinks they’re being serious. So if you are in for a good laugh and are into the goings on of the world, look no further than The Onion.

Top 10 Fictional Geek Presidents

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s the day after a long and arduous election year. We are all tired and maybe upset about who won or maybe not (depending on your preference), but we are least glad it’s over.

So my geeky friends, no matter who won or lost, did you ever look back at the candidates and think “God, these guys suck—I wish this character from my comic book was real and running for President!”?

Well, we decided to have our own election! These are Lady Geek Girl and Friends’ Top 10 Fictional Geek Presidents!

Lady Geek Girl and Friends Urges You to Get Out and Vote!

We’re an American site, run by American folks, and most of our views come from American readers. (That doesn’t mean we don’t love you too, one reader from Djibouti that one time, but this post isn’t really relevant to the non-Americans among out readership.)

Basically, if you are an eighteen years or older American citizen who has not committed a felony (or has got their rights restored), you should be registered to vote, and you should be doing so today. It’s your duty as an American to exercise the right that so many brave men and women have died to protect.

I don’t care if you vote for Obama, or Romney, or a third party candidate, or goddamn Vermin Supreme. If you don’t know where to go to vote, go here to put in your address and find out. Not sure if you’re eligible? File a provisional ballot at your local polling place. Go. Out. And. Vote. All the complaining in the world won’t make a damn bit of difference if you don’t. Your vote does matter. This is your chance to take a stand.

Joss Whedon on Romney and Zombies

This year many Americans have been split on who they are voting for, and while some argue for Romney, and others argue for Obama, we can all agree that political ads suck.

Every day they invade our homes. They attack through the TV, through YouTube, and even when we are live streaming TV shows.

But finally, someone has come along and put together a political ad that not only doesn’t suck, but addresses the concerns of the impending zombie apocalypse. Though neither candidate has intelligently addressed the public’s very real concerns about the zombie apocalypse, Joss Whedon has put together a quick political ad that explains who he’s thinks is the better to bring about the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Thank you, Joss. We love you.

American Gods

Hello, dear readers! Today, we have an oldie, but goodie: Neil Gaiman‘s American Gods.

What if gods walked among us? In traditional myth the gods created the land, the sea, the sky, the animals, and finally the humans. But what if they didn’t? What if the gods are the ones who are made? What if they sprung forth from the human mind and the reason that these creations need worship and sacrifice is not to appease them, but to keep them alive? These questions and more are what Neil Gaiman tackles beautifully and not without that famous Gaiman dry humor. It all begins when a quiet and strong giant of a man called “Shadow” is let out of prison early. Normally this would be a good thing, but unfortunately the reason is not. His beloved wife Laura and his best friend Robbie were killed in a drunken road-head related car crash.

After losing both his cheating wife and his potential job all at once, Shadow is left with few options. On the plane to the funeral he meets a strange old man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday, who asks Shadow to work for him. At first Shadow turns it down, but soon he is cruising the highways and byways of America, doing different jobs and tasks for Mr. Wednesday, meeting both old and new gods along the way. Throughout the novel the unlikely duo try to convince the old gods to fight in the war against the new gods. Some of the new gods include technology, media, celebrity, along with many other modern conveniences.

Though Gaiman is English he manages to portray America with understanding, and even sometimes affection. Though the novel can get a bit heavy at times it is still a delightful book that would appeal to any Gaiman fan, and if you like mythology and theology, so much the better. I highly recommend this novel and its sort of sequel Anansi Boys. Anansi Boys is a bit sillier and won’t have as many philosophical questions, but it is still a good read. Also in American Gods, Shadow fights a ridiculously tall drunken leprechaun named Mad Sweeney, so that is something to look forward to.

And for those of you who are based in Pittsburgh, PA, Neil Gaiman will be lecturing in the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012. Tickets will be available August 27th. Hope to see you there!

I wrote this and much more besides! What have you done with your life?

Is there a book, television show, or movie you would like me to review? Just leave your suggestions in the comments section and I will do my best to review them.

Anime Review: Hetalia

I love Hetalia.

I hate the other fans.

I’ll explain the first point first. If you don’t know what Axis-Powers Hetalia/Hetalia World Series, it is a show with very short episodes (five minutes a pop). Each country is depicted as a person, and the show follows each country’s cray-cray-cray interactions. Notice the three crays? It needs all three. Through the short episodes, it also gives out some basic history lessons as time jumps around a lot in the series. Initially, the series is about Italy, Germany, and Japan (the Axis Powers) during WWII. That plot got dropped quickly as France, Britain, and America began to have more central roles in the series.

I have more personal experience with the sub. I watched a couple episodes of the dub and cried a little on the inside. I give the English version and the voice actors for attempting the accents, but some of them are so over done that I can’t understand what is being said and even if I can, I stop paying attention to the words and just listen to the terribly overbearing accents.

The sub is excellent. Being a history buff/nerd, I love all of the history of the countries and I’m a big fan of the premise. The interactions between the countries are so funny and when the historical events are included it can be really cool.

Most of the countries are white men. Cuba (who makes a 2 second appearance) is the only not-white person I can think of. There are only a couple of girls, and some of them don’t come across as the need-to-be-rescued princess type (ex. Hungary). And then you have Belarus who complains about her breast being too big. So if you are looking for a strong female perspective you aren’t going to exactly find it here.

However, some of the humor is too much and goes into the bizarre. For example, there is a short clip of each country as a different cat. It wound up being cute, but when the screen flashed ‘Catalia’ naturally I put on my ‘da hell’ face. And my ‘da hell’ face makes numerous appearances.

Now the fans. Let me start off by saying that I’m the biggest history nerd. I grew up watching the History channel (before it became Swamp People and that crap) and history was a major part of my college major. So I do not dabble in history. At the same time, I don’t pretend to be the walking history text book. I’ve had numerous encounters with Hetalia fans that have the notion that because they watch Hetalia, they are the history text book. While Hetalia does explain history, it often over simplifies it and it cannot be counted on instead of reading the history book. So if you watch Hetalia, don’t act like you are educated on all of the history of the world.

Now, I have very little con experience before Hetalia took off. And maybe I feel this way because there are so many Hetalia fans, but they strike me as a little too intensely in love with the show. I love anime, but I diversify. Hetalia fans (I feel, debate me in the comments if you feel free) don’t.  It’s like the cray cray Twilight fans. They’re just too into it. And I’m sure there are other anime fans who love only one anime (brings me back to my high school anime club and how everyone had only heard of Naruto and I still didn’t know what it was). And maybe it’s because there are so many Hetalia fans that the cray-cray people are just higher in number.

I love Hetalia, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a fantastic series. I just don’t like that the other fans think they’re history know-it-alls and think Hetalia is the best/only anime in existence. But I love history and politics and funny things, and therefore I love this series.

Not Really Relevant to This Blog but it is Too Awesome NOT to Write About

Read the title. If you expect this post to be about dragons, ponies, aliens, Batman, or anything in the scifi nerd universe, don’t read this.

As you may or may not remember, I’m a huge follower of all current events, political situations, etc. And let’s just get right down to the nitty-gritty right here and talk about my political views before I get into what this post is actually about: I’m in the middle. I decide what I believe with my head and I do not pick a party and call it a day. I agree with some liberal ideas, such as same sex marriage, and some conservative ones, such as a need for smaller government.

My political beliefs are one reason why I love HBO’s new show entitled ‘The Newsroom.’  Written by the same man who wrote ‘The West Wing’ (if you can remember that show), The Newsroom follows a main TV anchor and how he changes his show so it depicts the facts of a situation, gives both sides of an argument, and cuts right to the chase so that voters can be well informed. Of course he also has the help of his staff, led by an American who thinks she is British named Mackenzie (no joke, she has a British accent).

Someone who depicts the facts of a situation, or a bill, is something I miss. I hate having to dig through paragraphs of BS on news sites for someone to actually state what the facts are. I’m not stupid; I can figure out my own opinions and I don’t need the news agencies espousing theirs like they are factual and the only correct answer. The Newsroom is like a dream come true for me. Now if it were only a real news program set now as opposed to a news program set in 2010 I would be really getting somewhere.

I like almost all of the actors (you’d probably recognize a good number). I especially love Jeff Daniels because he actually would make a good news anchor in real life. And seeing Sam Waterston (Jack McCoy from Law and Order) as an alcoholic is hysterical. If you saw Slumdog Millionaire, the main character is in it (adult version). So it’s a good cast.

However, there is one character named Maggie who pisses me off to no end. Basically, she has the cutest and smartest guy ever hitting on her and she (1) chooses to be mean to the guy and (2) continues to have her emotionally abusive boyfriend. Other than her being a moron, all of the other female characters and strong, smart, and know how to get things done.

So if you are interested in branching out, try out The Newsroom. Even if it’s not your cup of tea, everything in it is done so very well that you just might be able to get over all of the news-iness of it.

Nerd News: Rush Limbaugh Accuses The Dark Knight Rises of Political Propaganda

Rush Limbaugh’s delusions and paranoia have reached new heights by accusing The Dark Knight Rises of being a tool of political propaganda. He claims that Bane is supposed to make people think that Mitt Romney’s investment firm Bain Capital is evil in order to manipulate us voters into voting for Obama.

Check it out:

“Have you heard, this new movie, the Batman movie — what is it, the Dark Knight Lights Up or something? Whatever the name of it is. That’s right, Dark Knight Rises, Lights Up, same thing. Do you know the name of the villain in this movie? Bane. The villain in the Dark Knight Rises is named Bane. B-A-N-E. What is the name of the venture capital firm that Romney ran, and around which there’s now this make-believe controversy? Bain. The movie has been in the works for a long time, the release date’s been known, summer 2012 for a long time. Do you think that it is accidental, that the name of the really vicious, fire-breathing, four-eyed, whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane? … Anyway, so this evil villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane. And there’s now discussion out there as to whether or not this was purposeful, and whether or not it will influence voters. It’s going to have a lot of people. This movie, the audience is going to be huge, lot of people are going to see the movie. And it’s a lot of brain-dead people, entertainment, the pop culture crowd. And they’re going to hear ‘Bane’ in the movie, and they are going to associate Bain. And the thought is that when they start paying attention to the campaign later in the year, and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, not Bain Capital, but Bain, Romney and Bain, that these people will think back to the Batman movie — ‘Oh yeah, I know who that is.’ There are some people who think it will work. There are some people think it will work. Others think — ‘You’re really underestimating the American people who think that will work.’” – Rush Limbaugh on his syndicated radio show

(via The Mary Sue)

Wow, Mr. Limbaugh I didn’t associate these two things in my mind until now. Romney can thank you for that. I only ever associated Bane with well, Bane, the Batman villain that was created in the 90′s. And who is exactly discussing whether Bane being used as propaganda against Bain is purposeful? I only ever heard this from you, Limbaugh, because other people are sane.

Seriously, at this level of insane rambling why is this guy even on the radio still? At the very least you would think some who is supposed to report news would do the barest amount of Wikipedia research before talking about something they clearly know nothing about.

What Would Jesus Think about Health Care Reform aka I’m Trolling CNN Again

So the title pretty much covers what I’ve got going on over here.  I’m writing this under the assumption that everyone knows what the health care reform is.  Maybe that’s incorrect, but unless you’ve been living under a rock since before March 2010 then you should have at least heard of the largest health care overhaul since the creation of Medicare.  Now, this opinion of mine is one I might get some backlash on, but here goes nothing.

This CNN Belief blog post right here explains that it’s really hard to take the Bible and figure out how Jesus would feel about ‘Obamacare.’  My problem with it is this:  why does Jesus need to have an opinion?  I’m Catholic, and I don’t ask Jesus every question that comes to my mind.  Maybe that makes me a bad Catholic, but I don’t ask Jesus whether he would condone my crossing the street against the light.  Why?  Because I don’t consider crossing the street an ethical or moral dilemma.  When I have a problem that concerns morals or ethics, that’s when I go talk to Jesus.

Now, some of you may consider giving healthcare to others a moral and ethical problem.  At first, I did too.  But then I did all of my homework on it (like I read the entire law, wrote part of my thesis on it, and have been following the news on this sucker like a hawk) and I realized that it is an economic problem, not a moral one.  Basically, it costs less for everyone if we make health care affordable.  President Obama might make the moral argument in his speeches, but it was the financial bottom line that motivated the creation of this law.

If you think that Jesus thinks one way or another on health care reform, I’m all ears so feel free to post in the comments!

I put this picture of a puppy in here because I thought this blog post needed a picture.

Women’s History Month

March is Women’s history month. Surprised? So was I when I heard about it. Like Black history month, this month is about a segment of the population that has been continually ignored in history books. Because of this, women are given one month a year to fully appreciate and explore women’s history. And to that I say… BULLSHIT! Women are more than half of the population. We are mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, and friends, yet we are pushed into a single month. Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and the many other women who stood up and declared themselves citizens of their own country, a human with thoughts and feelings and a voice are celebrated, however this is not what women want. There has been much debate over Black history month; it has been argued that it is ultimately racist. Why? Because Black history should not be segregated to one month, black history is as important as white, and Latino, and Asian, and all the other races and creeds that make up the world. Women are part of all these races, yet they are still treated as second class citizens, they are being pushed into one month, and then forgotten for the rest of the year. These brave women, who pushed for women to have a voice in their own lives, should be remembered every month. Women’s history is part of all history and is just as important. I ask those who created this month to please think about what they actually want for women’s history: one month or the whole year?  I appreciate what they are trying to do, but it is not good enough. Everyone should be aware of women’s contributions to history. It is going to take more than a month of half assed feminism to do so.

Women's rights activists were beaten by police, arrested, and faced multiple injustices. They didn't do all that for a silver dollar and the month of March.