Web Crush Wednesdays: Betty Dodson & Carlin Ross

With a hellish election season finally wrapped up here in the United States, I can’t help but think back to all of the disgustingly sexist things that have happened. It made me think for the billionth time that we need better sex education in this country. Particularly, we need better sex and gender education, and everyone regardless of gender needs to learn about feminism. Well, sadly, we all know that isn’t happening in our current education system, which is why I am so grateful for those people on YouTube who try to educate others. Today I specifically want to talk about Carlin Ross and Betty Dodson, two amazing feminists and sex educators whose goal is to help de-stigmatize women’s bodies, help women learn about their bodies, promote a healthy sex-positive attitude, and promote women’s rights.

Warning for explicit discussion of sex and general NSFW-ness after the jump.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Character Reveal

Today’s web crush is a little different from our usual ones. We typically talk about awesome things we just happen to stumble across on the internet, but today’s is a little closer to home. Two of our LGG&F writers, Lady Saika and BrothaDom, recently decided to start a podcast together called Character Reveal. Character Reveal is a fun, conversational podcast in which Saika and Dom sit down with creators who work in anything from cosplay to video games to TV series. Over the course of their first six months, they’ve even interviewed other LGG&F writers, like our own Pantydragon and SquidInkSamurai. So for today, I thought I’d turn the tables on them and interview them instead.

In Brightest Day: Alice Isn’t Dead & How Disability Isn’t Only a Weakness or Superpower

art by Margherita Barrera (x)

A couple moments ago, I was finally able to listen to the season finale of the podcast Alice Isn’t Dead. We have already discussed how much we love this podcast, but now, I want to specifically talk about how it portrays disability. Usually stories show someone’s disability as a weakness they need to overcome in order to be “real heroes”, or they are portrayed as gaining extra supernatural abilities that more than “makes up” for their disability. But Alice Isn’t Dead did something wholly different: the podcast showed how someone can use their disability to help them get through a situation.

Major spoilers for Alice Isn’t Dead and a trigger warning for anxiety & panic attacks after the jump.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Podcasts Collected

As technology has progressed, much of it has fortunately become less expensive and easier to obtain. Now, anyone with a smartphone can take a picture, film a short video, and chat with friends across the world. Similarly, recording gear has also become cheaper and more accessible. The good thing about this: it’s way easier to make your own podcast now. The bad thing about this: there are now… so many podcasts. So many. How can I, a discerning podcast listener with a limited amount of time, even begin to figure out where the good podcasts are?

Me @ my friends: Hey, you got any of that good stuff?

Today’s web crush, Podcasts Collected, is a website that’s trying to solve that exact problem.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Speculate!

I’ve gotten really into podcasts lately—they’re a nice way to keep yourself company while running errands, and you can either learn something interesting or hear a good story while you’re at it. I’ve found a number of fictional podcasts, but I recently decided to start looking for more non-fiction podcasts—I like when the hosts chat back and forth because then it feels like I’m listening to an informal radio program rather than a story that I have to pay 100% attention to. So it was that I stumbled upon Speculate!, a podcast about sci-fi and fantasy. I listened to their recent episode on The House of Shattered Wings, which I reviewed on this blog a while back, and was immediately hooked.

Alice Isn’t Dead: The Podcast We Need Right Now

We live in dark and difficult times. And while it may seem trivial compared to, say, the reality that Donald Trump is still running for president, one symptom of these times that’s really starting to get to me is the ongoing prevalence of the “bury your gays” trope. This trope, as the name suggests, highlights the ubiquity with which queer characters are killed off in our popular fiction. It’s 2016, people; it’s time to stop using it.

That’s where Alice Isn’t Dead comes in.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Fan Bros Show

Black History Month keeps on moving, and it’s been one heck of a celebration. I’ve been celebrating by looking at great cosplay, learning more about creators, and of course, listening to new podcasts. This week’s Web Crush is going to be one I’ve just become a fan of, the Fan Bros Show!

Using Black Hashtags to Change the Landscape

I hope you’re ready: It’s Black History Month, and we’re gonna be talking about representation! What are the first images you see when you search “beautiful people”? What about “cosplay”? You will see lots of vibrant colors. However, that doesn’t generally extend to skin color; there’s not a lot of diversity in the skin color of the people who appear when you search. While the number of people of color appearing with these search terms is not zero, they are pretty low. So, how do we respond to this and try to make it better? Find out below the jump.

Web Crush Wednesdays: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Tavern

With my intense love of video game RPGs, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I, too, also have an interest in tabletop RPGs. Unfortunately, the one time I actually found a game, the group fell apart one session in and no one had taken the time to explain anything about the Dungeons and Dragons system to me. It was… certainly an experience. However, taking all the chutzpah I could possibly have for the remainder of 2016, I decided that I would run my own session of tabletop fantasy role playing funtimes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m driven by the thoughts of my players forging relationships, traversing perilous obstacles, and just feeling really cool in the settings I’ve thought up. But really, what I’m most looking forward to is seeing the ridiculous shit they come up with in the process of all of that, which is what today’s web crushes are about.

I believe wholeheartedly in the phrase “truth is stranger than fiction”, and I have no doubt that my players will be able to come up with really… really strange things that I wouldn’t have even thought to think of. That’s part of the fun of tabletop RPGs. This truth is only proven by Tumblrs like Your D&D Stories and Your Player Said What.

Looking for Mystery? Visit Limetown

I first heard about Limetown while I was on vacation two weeks ago. The series, the first work from Two-Up Productions, was described by The Mary Sue as the lovechild of the NPR true crime broadcast Serial and The X-Files, and well, considering I love both those things, I was eager to check it out. However, between a variety of real-life interferences and my inability to pause the Hamilton soundtrack, I only ended up tuning in over the weekend. I started Saturday morning on my way to work, and I was so hooked I finished it the same day.

Some spoilers below the jump.