sundries

[rm]

Help me with something: name a temporary city that only exists periodically -- Pennsic. Burning Man. What else? Anywhere in the world. Not just geek-related.

I keep hearing we're supposed to get at least a sliver of the snowpocalypse, but there's been nary a flake.

Patty and I had the most awesome night last night. We picnicked on the floor -- fondue with potatoes, carrots, salami, apples, and also pesto sauce for dipping. And then we watched tons of Buffy.

I would like to state for the record that Ted was almost an impossible episode for me to watch (btw, I don't think it's a bad episode; I think it's pretty great, really, it's just not pleasant and hard for me to sit through) -- it punched all of my buttons, none of them good -- about never being believed (because you are female, an only child, unusual, imaginative), being threatened with institutionalization as a power play (it's happened to me, it's happened to friends), and gendered violence & humiliation (the "little lady" thing was causing me to want to flee the room). I really, really, almost couldn't watch it.

Also, Kendra's apparently Jamaican accent? Yikes. There is a lot of race fail one really has to overlook to get through this show (and the only reason there isn't more, it seems, is through sins of omission because IT IS SO WHITE, although I fully acknowledge I might not have noticed that when it was actually airing, although living in NYC and DC, I hope I would have).

I'm also still uncomfortable with the level of rape metaphor/content. I get that Wheedon isn't fetishizing rape in the gross way TV programs often do. I also get the necessity of its acknowledgement in a show about a young woman facing danger. But I can't get past a feeling of nice guy self-congratulatoriness I feel like I'm sensing in it. It's not handled badly (I thought the Giles/Jenny convo about "Your behavior is making me feel bad for not feeling better" was particularly smart), but I sort of want to yell at them for asking for a cookie quite so loudly.

But I really am enjoying the hell out of the show. Just watching many episodes close together gives me a way to see patterns (and feel saturated with themes) in a way that was different for peopel who watched it once a week and with seasonal breaks.

Yes, of course I'm still desperately interested in all things Whoniverse This Buffy thing is less a break and more of a refuge, because I'm about to descend into writing my paper for Bristol and what may be a very tense panel/audience relationship at Gally. Also, I'm working on making my relationship with melancholy and grieving a feature, not a bug, which means caring about other sorts of plots sometimes, although I realize Buffy will probably transmute into more of the same for me eventually.

Thanks to gay marriage legalization Mexico City now at center of debate.

FDA reconsiders portion size. Because no, no one eats 8 corn chips and then puts away the bag.

fireflygirl tells us of the lonliest whale.

The restoration of a movie palace.

The end of St. Vincent's. Shocking, I think particularly, to those who remember its centrality during the emergence of AIDS.

Something is up, and I know not what, with Amazon.com stocking my book. If you're looking for the print edition (as opposed to the Kindle edition), right now your best bet is B&N.

Comments

[delchi.livejournal.com]

That would be better read as " Some men who rape " because I can't account for all reasons / situations where rape happens. This is just one angle of a larger problem.

With no other form of education or guidance , mass media teaches males at an early age that if you wear these clothes, smell like this scent, drive this car, women will fall in love with you and instantly jump into bed with you. When this does not happen, then you are told what a loser you are and if only you had bought this item , or lived this lifestyle you would have " got the girl ". This leads to confusion because hey, they followed the directions, why didn't the girl jump on me like they do on tv?

Mass media takes advantage of males with little or no knowledge or experience who are dealing with early bio-chemical changes and puberty and with no better assistance can fall into rape culture , as well as objectifying women. A quick look at some of the things asked in yahoo answers by pre teens/teens shows a general lack of education and guidance replaced by mass media which has the only goal of making money & pushing product.

Take a look at the tv ads for " on line booty call " , or any given magazine. The established argument that 'supermodels' in print media can warp a woman's ideal of what beauty is / what she is expected to look like also happens to men who see cowboys smoking, or the guy in the BMW / with three women on each arm in a hot tub. Drink this drink and 5 women will sit on your lap. A 'real' man can walk into a room and attract every woman to him because he has (product).

Now what CAN happen is , when all these things fail to come true or can't be achieved ( can't afford a BMW/can't get liquor ) a person can become frustrated, cave to social pressures, become mocked by peers with better success ( more money , able to buy the things that 'get' the girl ) and anger, frustration, violence, rape are a slippery slope that many fall down. Why bother going on dates, buying things, and going through all that romantic crap when you can just slip her some pills and then slam it home frat brother? Hell buy her a few of these drinks, they taste like fruit juice but slam a massive punch , and then shes all yours! Without some form of education to counter these things this is where it can end up.

Early education against the manipulation by mass media along with better understanding and education of the biological urges IMHO can be effective against some men falling down that slope. Men do not just wake up one morning and decide " I'm going to be a rapist " as easy as " I'm going to be a fireman " or " I'm going to be a truck driver " ... the ideas and established norms that are objectionable are brought forward multiple times a day via mass media and if not corrected or understood can lead to acceptance and furtherance of the problems in our culture.

Taking the time to show how mass media manipulates people in general , and then men/women specifically should be a requirement at the grade school level. Building resistance to what we are having pumped into our brains - you need to wear designer clothes, you need to have a man to make your life complete , you need to be able to bed 3,4 or 5 women to be a 'real man' , and other messages need to be defused before they take a hold in the minds and actions of people. These things are not , and do not come true - you do not get a perfect life just by buying product X. If you believe these things , then when they fail to work, anger , frustration and violence are a common path.

This is what can happen :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBRL7D0wcXM&feature=related