Thoughts

After four days, three nights, six full trashbags, three donation bags marked for Goodwill and twenty-two episodes of the 1991 live-action Flash series, I can finally see the floor in all of my closets! My storage areas are officially clean!

The rest of the place is not.

Baby steps, though.

Admittedly, the Flash was more of a distraction than a help. I popped the DVDs in because I'd seen most all of the episodes a long time ago, but I forgot that that was a long time ago. I had to stop and watch.

I really liked that this series had a different continuity than the comics. Part of the fun of was getting to see how much of which villains made it to television, and how much of which plots. The Flash series had some overt references to the Rogue's gallery (Trickster showed up in name and costume, but in personality he was Mark Hamill's audition for the Joker), some medium references (Mirror Master showed up with his civilian name, personality and tech intact, but no costume or villain name), and some subtle ones (the episode where three bad guys of varying degrees of evilness and competence team up to put the city to sleep -- The guy who makes all of the equipment has a green vest and bow tie). Everything's mixed and matched.

I do think they should've kept the comic book connection, though. Barry in the series came up with the lightning symbol on his own and the papers named him the Flash. Nothing really indicated he'd ever read a comic, and there's a few places in the series it might have helped him. In one episode, he gets an old classmate a job as Night Watchman at STAR Labs. See, anyone who's ever read a comic book knows that is the most dangerous job you can possibly get in a superhero city, but Barry thought he was doing the guy a favor (until the bad guy showed up at the lab and locked them in a death trap). Come to think of it, that should be logical by that point in the series. STAR Labs in Central City has no security. It was broken into every other episode. You'd have to be an idiot to think that's a safe place to be overnight. Night watchmen is a job you get your worst enemy.

Interestingly enough, we never saw the character again. (And there were a couple other injured STAR Labs Night Watchmen before the end of the series.)

Artist Iris was annoying too. She doesn't need to be a photojournalist, but man the girl in the pilot was a dull, shallow love interest. Very unlike the woman in the comics. (I prefer to think of her as some other girl named Iris, and that somewhere in that TV continuity there was another Iris West they would've brought in with Wally for the second or third series.) They were right to get rid of her for the rest of the show.

I also kind of wish the Nightshade had made it to the comics during the Golden Age Revisionist movement in the 90s. Yeah, he's only a TV cross between Jay Garrick and Wesley Dodds, but I think he could've been adapted as a Golden Age Central City counterpart to Jay in the comics.

Of course, I'm probably just disappointed he only got two episodes. It's a shame this series never caught on.

Amazons Attack 30 Second Recap

Yes, I'm pushing the deadline, but I worked on it so I'm posting it anyway.

In honor of the ISB's Third Awesomeversary, Ragnell's Written World presents...

Amazons Attack! (in 30 Seconds)

Friday Night Fights

And... Knockout!

Quiz time!

It was bound to happen eventually. Someone went and made a Lantern quiz with all seven colors.

I got a really good result:

Which Power Ring would come to you?

You have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps. Your ring will guide you to Oa where you will be instructed in the proper use of your newfound powers as Green Lantern of sector 2814. Take this quiz! Quizilla Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Kalinara didn't.

What did she get? Ask Batman:

Unhappy Meals

"Boy" Toys:

When I go to McDonald's and they ask the dreaded "Is this for a girl or a boy?" question, I'm always stuck. My daughter always wants the boy toy, but if I say it's for a boy, she freaks. If I say "It's for a girl, but we want a boy toy", invariably we get the girl toy anyway. Even if I just say "I'd like a boy toy, please", my daughter cries. "I don't want the BOY toy, mama, I want the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy! They're not just for boys, are they? Why do the boys always get the good toys?"

(That one's an old post so if you go there and comment there's no telling if you'll see the blogger reply or not.)

Quick Check-in

Soranik, Guy, and Kyle
Originally uploaded by Ragnell

Okay, I made one more resolution. I want to try to post daily because I leave this place for too long at a time. (I'm trying a "Watercolor A Day" calender as well, and the prospects for that one don't look any better. I'll give them both a try, though.)

I do have a post idea (I was going to explain which character I hated more than Jade and why) but my first resolution is cleaning my habitat so I'm too busy arranging a make-shift night stand with my shortboxes to do a detailed post. I just wanted to get one done before the day runs out. Here's a picture of my Soranik Natu mini-Barbie repaint (from back in August) instead. I threw in the Guy and Kyle figures for a vacation group photo feel.

Happy New Year

Almost missed the holiday again, but my only resolution is to keep the house clean and I was distracted by putting that off.

Ooo!

This is one of the most awesome things ever.

This page should make WFA link-farming more enjoyable.

Yeah, off-topic but I've been neglecting this blog.

Some interesting stuff in this thread about women and religion, particularly Artic Stranger's Post #40:

For men, women represent a loss of power. To fall in love is to give your heart away. If you give your heart away, you can be hurt...very badly. (There was a recent play where one character tells her daughter, "Don't be the one in the relationship who loves the most. That person gets hurt. You need to be the one who is loved the most. You wont get hurt then."

Throw in the sexual drive, and boom...you have a very threatened man. How does that song go? "When a man loves a woman..." (See song lyrics at the end of Post)

Then throw in the historical feeling of men that one of the worst things you can be called is "sissy" or "pussy" or some other term to denote that you were a feminine type man. (In ancient Rome homosexuality was rampant...well SODAMY was rampant, homosexuality did not exist... and it was considered fine to be the one screwing other men, but you did not want to be the one who was screwed by other men.) Sexuality is a fluid thing, and most women have some masculine characteristics, and most men have some feminine characteristics. Men are much less comfortable with their feminine side than women are with their masculine side. (These are tendencies, not iron clad rules.) So when the feminine appears in a man, he feels threatened, from within, but he can easily focus the threat outward to other women.

Now throw in religion. Let's take Augustine, one of the main culprits in the Christian wrong turn on sexuality. Augustine was a man obsessed with sex. He was the one who prayed, "Lord make me chaste, but not today." It was his attraction to his mistress that kept him from fully converting to Christianity. When he did convert he renounced her and his child he had with her.

Now as I was writing that last paragraph, I ALMOST wrote, "It was his mistress who kept him from fully converting." Notice how I almost put the blame on her. It was rather instinctual, and I had reframe my own thoughts. That "innocent" little slip is a habit for many men who want to devote their lives to God. The major impediment most will encounter will be their relationship with women. And since we are masters at self-delusion and self-justification, it is rather easy to see how the problem shifts from "I have a problem dealing with my desires about women" to "Women are a problem to me." When that move is made, men must be protect from women.

(And remember that sexual roles were pretty segregated at one time. A lot of what women did was a HUGE mystery to men. And we did not know as much about anatomy either, so even the way women were structured was a mystery. Where DOES that baby come from? What is the deal with all that blood?)

So eventually, to "protect" men from the effects of women, they eventually put them into one of two boxes; virgin saint, or whore. They are either helping us toward our goal of sainthood (usually by making an incredible sacrifice of their own sexuality, violently and graphically) or they are seducing us with their sexuality and are poison apples.

Blogosphere!

Cheer me up, dammit.

Kalinara has been regaling me with a list of unusual fictional properties that people will write male-on-male pornography about, but this just seems to be depressing me more.

(Though if she could find enough Lensmen slash I'd feel a certain justice was served for riddling the space opera genre with sexism. Sure, I probably wouldn't read it. But I want it to exist.)

Weird

My referral stat suggests that a number of people are reaching my sites through the Mary Jane Statue posts from May and June.

There must be a new post out there on this subject that I haven't found yet.

This is odd. (And annoying)

How is it that the last hour and a half that I've seen tonight is stuff parodying feminism?

I mean, seriously, two sexual harassment storylines and a gender-separated education storyline that all have "The feminists are overreacting" as a major plot point. (Well, I've seen the last one before and I guess it's fair to say the theme there was "The feminists are being naive" but the other two paint feminists as jumping the gun and men as needing women to civilize them which pisses me off too) Those stories as irritating on their own, but three in a fucking row is infuriating.

It's especially bad because I don't get a night off to just watch television very often, so it really sucks when it's the night of the antifeminist backlash.

Time to put in a DVD, I suppose.

I almost skipped the whole holiday.

Anyway, since there's about ten minutes left of this one, have a Happy Christmas and here's a cute video for you.

Seriously?!

Rich Watson has gossip for John Stewart fans. (hattip)

Create a superheroine?

Newsarama:

According to Shadowline editor, Kristen Simon, “I’d been hoping to see a super-hero book with a strong female lead to act as a counter-point to our popular Bomb Queen series, but none were forthcoming. So I decided to come up with a contest to create a super-heroine for the 21st Century.”

As with any writing job, I see two downsides to submitting: 1) They could reject my idea. 2) They could accept my idea and let everyone know how stupid it is.

The upside is that whatever I can come up with will NOT be the dumbest thing on the pile.

(And that if it is, only I and the Shadowline editor will see it.)

Of course they're playing cute for the Cluemaster's daughter.

Well, Didio's little hint just tosses another clue on the pile. Apparently Stephanie Brown is coming back to life and the reason is obvious:

DC will do anything to avoid redesigning the Batcave.

Who wants to push for a Batcave Katma Tui memorial next?

Wow.

For the approval of the internet, I submit the following definition of courage from Will Pfiefer's blog:

Meanwhile, I almost forgot to mention that the AMAZONS ATTACK hardcover was due in comic book stores last week. (I forgot mostly because I haven't gotten my box of comp copies yet -- c'mon, DC!). It's all six issues for a mere $24.99, complete with a lovely slipcover and sketchbook section, both by artist extraordinaire Pete Woods. Just the thing for under the tree!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or criticisms, feel free to air them here. I really do want to hear 'em.

Yes, even about AMAZONS ATTACK.

*Ahem*

[unpracticed attempt at self-promotion] I believe I've mentioned in the past that I sold a small story for inclusion in the Ruins: Terra collection.

Well, after a slight delay that collection is now available on Amazon.com.

It contains two whole pages of my fiction writing (written for today's attention span), along with many substantially more involved stories.

In case you have some last-minute holiday shopping, you can go for the good shipping and get it by December 24th. [/unpracticed attempt at self-promotion]

Dear god, it's back.

Kadymae discovered the odious "Nice Guy letter" making the rounds, and linked a few reactions to it. I found hers was the best:

If you agree with, or would possibly write, "You ignored the nice guy. You used him for emotional intimacy without reciprocating, in kind, with physical intimacy."

You are not a nice guy. You never were a nice guy. You will never be a nice guy.

You, are the text book definition of a user and that mean, thankless, heartless bitch (of either sex) is on to you like white on rice, so unsubtle is your approach. And, as an aside, an in kind reciprocation would be returned emotional intimacy. What you're asking for is not a like exchange.

The world owes you neither a living nor a lay.

Okay, I've dated this guy. Multiple this guys, actually, before I wised up. This is the guy who pretends to be your friend until he gains your trust and your sympathy, then he manipulates you into dating him. Then he tries to manipulate you into bed.

And if you are honestly, sincerely not interested -- he counts on your guilt and softheartedness to prevent you from turning him down. He turns you into the evil bullying bitch in his sob story if you do turn him down right away. If you go out with him once or twice to give him a fair chance, then let him down easy, then he turns you into the evil bullying bitch who led him on for so long in his sob story.

"Nice Guy" is a dirty word in the feminist community because that's how this guy describes himself, as a "Nice guy who can't cut a break." In reality he's a world class bitter manipulator.

"Nice guy" is just when a bitter manipulator puts on a mask to pretend to be a decent fellow.

I'd much rather a decent fellow, a guy who is actually honestly your friend. Yes, those guys exist. They don't whine about that not being rewarded with sex for being friendly. They are friendly when they actually want to be friends. When they want sex, they don't play up their pathetic sob story, trash all other women, and use guilt to get it from a girl who just wants to talk.

God help you if you're shy or anxious yourself. Because then he's out to assassinate your self-esteem just so he can get a lay. See, being firm and clear and making an enemy of the "Nice Guy" is probably the only way to get rid of him. He knows this, so he plays on any part of your behavior to make you think he's really a decent fellow and you don't want to hurt his feelings. And you want him to be a decent fellow. You need to believe he's a decent fellow, because otherwise your mind is worthless. Otherwise, the only reason anyone would want to talk to you is to get closer to your body. You want so badly to believe he was genuinely interested in you as a person that you go and make excuse after excuse for this guy and let him manipulate you into that relationship. You do this until the circumstances are dire, and you may be stuck with him forever.

Then you finally drop him, and feel like you're a bitch for doing so. And he goes ahead and reinforces that.

I'm sure by now that some "Nice Guys" don't think they're being malicious (just as the shy anxious girl thinks she's being nice by not nipping this thing in the bud). One of Kadymae's commenters talks about how he used to be one and is now learning to be a decent fellow.

Here's the thing, though. It's not really being "nice." It's not really being decent. It's not really being personable in any way. It's being jealous of other men and assuming that all women reason exactly alike (thinking "Hey, that asshole has a girlfriend. I don't. Maybe all women only like assholes" and letting confirmatory bias work its magic). The best I can judge from the writings and whining of professed "Nice Guys" is that this is wanting to be an asshole but having such low self-esteem you feel you can't get away with acting like an asshole. It's this horrible combination of cynicism, cowardice, and pessimism that acts like flashing sign to ward off any chance of procreation.

Honestly, you having trouble getting laid and want to? Stop forwarding the misogynistic emails. Stop trashing your ex-girlfriends. Stop trashing your would-be girlfriends. Stop being fucking sneaky about your crushes.

Read a self-help book. If you can't implement the advice there, see a psychologist. Work out your personal issues before blaming women for your problems.

Then go to the local singles scene.

I know that this is harsh advice and that some of you may doubt my credentials in this area. So for the end of this post I have prepared some brief answers to predictable responses. (These answers will likely not prevent anyone from insisting that I do indeed blame men for everything, but fuck them if they can't read the rest of this blog or even the rest of this post.)

"I'm too shy and nervous around women!!" It is not the job of a girl to help you with that. That is what the shrink is for.

"Only losers go to those mixers and use online dating services!" So you're saying that scheming to get close to a woman by pretending to be her friend makes you NOT a loser somehow? At least with a dating service you're an honest loser, and you have a shot at being a winner.

"It's not worth the trouble." Then don't do it. But don't blame the rest of us for not having a social life.

"My ex-girlfriend really is a bitch." Bitch is a pretty misogynistic insult to be throwing around when you actually mean it. (Yes, I've used that insult about five times by this point, but I'm illustrating attitudes not expressing my actual opinion.) That aside, some ex-girlfriends are genuinely unpleasant people. Have you noticed a pattern of unpleasant ex-girlfriends? Do you feel that these girlfriends were all unpleasant because of your pleasant nature? Do you expect women to be inexplicably unpleasant in reaction to your pleasant nature, and blame the women for it? Do you feel that your ex-girlfriend was an unpleasant girlfriend specifically because she withheld sexual intimacy? If your answered "no" to these questions, then your girlfriend was probably just an unpleasant person. If you answered yes to all (or just the last one) of these questions, you are the unpleasant person. (If your answers are mixed, I suggest soul-searching and not taking my posts so personally.)

"Ragnell, you bitter repressed feminazi bitch -- you're a fucking comic book blogger. What the hell do you know about socialization?" I know who is to blame when I spend a Saturday Night blogging. When I spend a Saturday Night blogging, it's because I didn't put the effort into stepping outside my door. Even if I have a date and it's canceled or a I have a crush and it wasn't reciprocated there are plenty of places to go and plenty of people to see where I live.

Okay, sometimes there's a damned ice storm to blame.

Help me out here.

I'm looking for what you call it when in a TV show/movie/book the main cast members are all white, but there's a black person in a minor part that's a respected position of authority (the rarely-seen boss, the Judge, the Doctor, the local police officer) so that the producers can claim positive racial diversity without having to actually spend time writing plot and characterization for someone who's not white.

I can't be the first one to notice this, so I know there's an easy snappy name for it.

(This isn't for a project, I just saw a movie where they did this and it was really obvious and it has me trying think of the name for it.)

ETA: No, Token's not the word I'm thinking of. There's no importance on what role is played by the character when you use that term. (I also hate that term because too damned many people use it to bash John Stewart.) I'm thinking of when the only person who's not white only appears in one or two scenes and they are specifically in a position of authority. None of the plot can center on them. They aren't even necessarily helpful. They just show up and function as the authority figure for the main character's plot.

ETA #2: Thanks, Matter-Eater Lad. Black Lieutenant Syndrome

And Notintheface? I blame you for my being on Youtube instead of collecting WFA links tonight.

*Ahem* HAMMMMMMEEERRRRR!!!!!!