NRA Blames Video Games and Other Violent Media for Shootings

Now I don’t care what you think about gun control. Whether you think we need more guns to stop guns, or more restrictions on guns, that is not the topic of discussion for this post.

What I do want to discuss is the NRA throwing video games and other forms of media under the bus.

Really, NRA?! There are so many good arguments for having guns and having the NRA. I’ve heard them before. Did the NRA use any of them? No! Instead we have a piss-poor attempt to shift the blame onto video games and the media. But let’s let the head of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, speak for himself:

There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people, through vicious, violent video games with names like “Bulletstorm,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “Mortal Kombat,” and “Splatterhouse.”

So we have a game where you kill mutant monsters, a campy graphic fighting game, a shoot ’em up driving game, and another zombie and monster fighting game. One of these games doesn’t even have any guns! Yes, all of these game are violent; they are all very mainstream; and they have a wide range of followers. But does the content of the video game really matter?

Sexualized Saturdays: Where are all my dwarf ladies at?

If you’ve read The Hobbit or any other Tolkien books or pretty much any fantasy story where dwarves exist as a separate race, you might have noticed that dwarf ladies are sadly lacking representation. Although there aren’t, in fact, any female characters at all in The Hobbit, in The Lord of the Rings at least we have examples of powerful women (or at least existing women) from every race but the dwarves. As someone (I think Gimli?) in Lord of the Rings notes, Middle Earthling dwarf women are seen so rarely, and so resemble dwarf men (sporting plenty of facial hair and… pants and axes, I guess?), that most other races assume dwarves are a single-gendered species who spring from the rock fully formed rather than one that engages in sexual reproduction.

Peter Jackson, in the scene in The Hobbit movie showing the fall of Erebor and the devastation of Dale, does show us a number of dwarf women living under the mountain with their male cohorts. I was surprised, however, that he had given them far more feminine clothing and features than I expected.

These are certainly not characters who might be misgendered as men, and furthermore, the clear difference in presented gender gives the lie to any suggestion that dwarf women are so rare/often misgendered that they are considered mythical creatures by other Middle Earthlings.

Gail Simone is Back on Batgirl

Gail Simone is back, baby!

Gail Simone was recently and rudely dismissed from the Batgirl comic via email, leaving her without a title to work on and reducing DC Comics’ female artists and writers to only about four. Furthermore, Gail Simone is one of the most promoted female writer at DC comics and is known for her support of women, minorities, and LGBTQ people.

The reasons for Gail Simone’s dismissal from Batgirl was never fully explained and I doubt the reasons why they are asking her to now return will be explained either, but perhaps it was the the mass amount of not only fan protest but protest from fellow comic book creators. Whatever the case, Gail Simone recently posted on her Tumblr how excited and pleased she is to be returning to Batgirl.

I KNOW WHO THE NEXT WRITER ON BATGIRL IS…

…and her name is ME!

I am typing this on a snowy road, cell service is about to disappear, I know everyone has a million questions, but…
BATGIRL, baby!

Thank you to DC for this privilege, and a million thank yous to everyone who wanted to see this happen.

I am ECSTATIC.

I’m extremely excited for Gail Simone to return to Batgirl, especially to read her stories about how Barbara was able to rehabilitate after the Joker shot her. I’m further excited to potentially see a transgender person potentially in the Batgirl comics! Gail Simone has revealed that more exciting things will be happening that she can’t reveal yet.

I promise. DC did a nice thing here. A happy thing, and there’s more news coming I can’t tell yet, but soon. ALL good news.

Some opportunities have opened up all over the place and soon I will be writing some of my very very favorite characters that I have never written before, AND I will be writing a bunch of new things I created, as well. Some things I have been waiting for for years will be coming.
There will be news from possibly unexpected corners very soon.

And man, I cannot WAIT.

So be pleased, comic book fans. We won one!

Sailor Moon Fan Film: Dead Moon Circus

My fellow Moonies, rejoice! We are truly in the Neo Golden Age of Sailor Moon. What with the current revival of the anime and anime-themed merchandise worldwide, the re-printing of the manga in English with the direct intent of being more accurate to the original (whether it actually is or not is an argument for another time; the intent was good), and the production of a new series being in the works we are getting more Sailor Moon goodies than we’ve seen since she first took the world by storm.

In the midst of all this official media and merchandise, we are also seeing wild numbers of fan films and fan series being produced! I talked about one already and now it’s time to share another one. I was hoping to wait until the second part of the film was uploaded to talk about it but I’m impatient and want to share it now, so enjoy part one and look forward to the conclusion to come! This film comes from an Australian group of fans and is titled Dead Moon Circus:

Review under the cut:

Feminism and the Apocalypse

Happy Apocalypse everyone!

So apparently we are all going to die today. Or maybe we were supposed to die earlier? I’m not sure how this whole Mayan prophecy thing is supposed to work. Should we have died at midnight on the 20^th, or am I still waiting for midnight tonight on the 21^st? Or is it going to happen randomly today?

Whatever the case I don’t think the world will actually come to end. There have been doomsday predictions since almost the dawn of humankind. We seem to really want to die. Morbid, huh?

Well, just in case the world does end, I want to say it has been an honor blogging with you.

And to my fellow women: out of everyone, we should be the most scared of an apocalypse, because things don’t tend to go well for women in post-apocalyptic societies.

If you have been scaring yourself watching those stupid History Channel shows about the apocalypse, you’ll know there are many ways for the world to end. But some of the more interesting shows are the ones that describe how to survive after the apocalypse.

Yes, dear reader, you may survive the apocalypse, but you will then be stuck in a post-apocalyptic world that is far scarier than death, especially, I would argue, for women and other minorities.

Trigger warning for discussion of rape.

The Lucky 10,000: The Venture Bros.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these segments, but, as the recent and ongoing ‘fake geek girl’ nonsense continues to illustrate, there still seems to be some sort of ‘required reading’ list that you have to complete before you can call yourself a nerd. As a quick refresher, in this series I watch/read/participate in these things for you, and let you know if they’re actually worth your time.

So without further ado, on to The Venture Bros.!

Go Team Venture!

The Venture Bros. has been on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block on and off again since I was in high school, but it’s not something I ever thought I’d enjoy watching. The commercials seemed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of dick jokes, and although I’ve done my fair share of laughing at dick jokes, I feel like a show needs more than that to survive. Well, it turns out that The Venture Bros. does have more than that after all.

Fanfiction Fridays: A Reason for the Season

Tis the season of giving and all through the interwebs everyone is celebrating. Secret Santas, Big Bangs, giveaways: the list as bountiful as the creativity and charity required to participate in such things. In the fanfiction circuit though, the event that best encapsulates this is the tradition of the kink meme. Although not constrained to Christmas, the premise of these writing events is very similar to that of a secret Santa. All one has to do is leave a request about any couple, any type of fic and wait for someone to fill it. It’s all done anonymously so there’s little chance for being harassed for one’s preferences—if you want to ship Sailor Moon with Artemis, go right ahead—and despite anonymity usually being a calling card for being terrible to each other, I have never seen a more accepting group of people than those on kink memes. In fact, you’re more likely to find people that share your same ships and kinks than anything.

Today I come baring a kink meme from one of my favorite video game series, Borderlands. I don’t know about you guys, but I came out of that game shipping so many things it wasn’t even funny, but it’s literally impossible to find some of those ships online especially when there are a select few that get much of the screen time, so to speak. It was really by luck that I managed to run across this godsend of a literary gathering, but I had to take the plunge. I made my request.

In waiting for my request to get filled, I was pleased to find a bunch of other prompts already having been filled, and guess what? They’re all good. There’s a really adorable one that stars Axton and Maya, two of the main playable characters, where Maya is dressed up as another playable character, Zer0, trying to play a prank on Axton only to find him drunkenly confessing his love for her to the dude he thinks is his buddy. And there’s awkward haiku in that one too, so that’s a plus.

While there are many excellent fills, there are still many more prompts that need to be taken up. This post is not only a call for you, dear readers, to go read these amazing ficlets, but also to spur you into action. If you have any interest in Borderlands (or in any series because I’m sure there’s a kink meme for just about everything under the sun), consider filling someone’s request. It’ll make the original requester’s day and there’s no doubt you’ll please many more people as well. However, as it is a kink meme I feel like I must put the warning that many of the requests and fills are NSFW. However, it is possible that there will be fluffy, gen fills/requests as well. The kink memes are truly a gift in the fanfic world that keep on giving far past the holiday season, and who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Superman is Changing Careers

It’s feels time you guys—let’s go.

So if you haven’t heard, Clark Kent has given up his job at the Daily Planet to write a blog. He supposedly stormed out in a fit of rage after going on a tangent about how the newspaper is more about entertainment than news. Now, in general I’m not against this. I’m more against the new author’s elaborations. According to the new Superman author, Scott Lobdell:

This is really what happens when a 27-year-old guy is behind a desk and he has to take instruction from a larger conglomerate with concerns that aren’t really his own… Superman is arguably the most powerful person on the planet, but how long can he sit at his desk with someone breathing down his neck and treating him like the least important person in the world?

My feelings are:

What the hell?!

Now, I’m not the Superman expert, but you’d think that the new author wouldn’t think of his main character as nothing but a shallow douchebag. First off, one of the things I find most appealing about Superman is that he is a normal guy. He’s not high and mighty; he’s just like every one of us. He’s not the type to stand up in front of a meeting and make a grand exit from his job, which is why he’s so appealing.

Superman is a character with such depth, I am actually shocked that his new author thinks he’s so shallow. Honestly, it makes me sick. First, storming out is not normal twenty-seven-year-old behavior; it’s more like typical seven-year-old behavior. Also, Superman has never been vying for the spotlight. Never ever. And I find it horrifying that the author doesn’t even understand his own darn protagonist.

Sorry guys, that just really pissed me off.

For more information, see USA Today.

Theatre Thursdays: Wicked News Round-Up

Despite being a huge Wicked fan (I mean, check the username) I don’t think I’ve posted about it at all here. However, having just seen the show again a couple weeks ago, I’ve been in a Wicked mood — so I’m gonna post some fun news that’s been going on for the show as it nears its tenth year on Broadway.

Willemijn Verkaik will do a limited run as Elphaba on Broadway

Willemijn became a fast fan favorite when she opened the German production of Wicked and with her perfect witchy look and killer voice it’s not hard to understand why. On top of these great attributes Willemijn also brought her intense, passionate acting to the role. She went on to open the Dutch production of the show as well, getting to perform the show in her native language. Now this incredibly talented woman is going to get to make her Broadway debut and American audiences will get to experience firsthand what audiences in Stuttgart and Holland have already fallen in love with.

Enjoy Willemijn performing Elphaba’s signature “Defying Gravity” in all three languages in which she has performed/will perform the role:

More news under the cut!

Sandy Hook Massacre: This has to stop.

(WARNING: This is not a happy post. There is swearing and very little analysis of anything fun. I’ll go back to Christmas posts next time, but I need to do this. You’ll understand in a moment.)

In August, I wrote an article asking for geeks to not support Aurora shooter James Holmes. I argued that just because he was no doubt mentally unstable and fell through the cracks doesn’t mean he should be supported for shooting and killing twelve people in a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

I wanted that to be the first and last real-world disability post about mass killings that I ever wrote. I don’t get my wish, and now I must discuss the death of twenty-seven people, including twenty children, cut down by a mentally deranged man. Oh, and apparently he and I share a disorder.