Holy-I-havn’t-posted-in-3-weeks Batman!

This semester has been kicking my ass. Hence for the epic lags between posts. But fear not, this semester from hell is finally coming to close and I shall resume a some-what regular posting schedule. I’m thinking a new post every Monday*

In the mean time, check out Threadless. The basics: artists submit t-shirt designs. The community (i.e. me and you) vote on them. The winners are printed and sold. Artists win money. We get kick ass shirts. Everybody wins.

Some of my personal faves:
Road Rage
Ultimate Combo
A Simple Plan
Missing!
Swan Kick

Happy Geeking!

*For the purposes of this blog, Monday ranges from Sunday night to Tuesday afternoon.

Justice 30 years later?

For those of you that aren’t as behind with the world of pop culture as myself, have probably heard about the arrest of Roman Polanski (director of The Pianist) back in September of this year.

In a nutshell: Back in the 1970s Polanski was arrested and charged with drugging and raping a 13 year old girl. Before he was sentenced (and hearing that he may be deported), Polanski fled the US to France; because of this there is an outstanding warrant of arrest on Polanski. When Polanski entered Switzerland for the Zurich Film Festival he was arrested.

Now if all that isn’t horrible enough for you, here’s the kicker. There is a petition calling for the RELEASE of Polanski. The petition was created by SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) an organization that distributes author’s royalties.

Here’s the petition for Roman Polanski:

We have learned the astonishing news of Roman Polanski’s arrest by the Swiss police on September 26th, upon arrival in Zurich (Switzerland) while on his way to a film festival where he was due to receive an award for his career in filmmaking.

His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.

Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision. It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him.

By their extraterritorial nature, film festivals the world over have always permitted works to be shown and for filmmakers to present them freely and safely, even when certain States opposed this.

The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, undermines this tradition: it opens the way for actions of which no-one can know the effects.

Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renown and international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom.

Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – everyone involved in international filmmaking – want him to know that he has their support and friendship.

On September 16th, 2009, Mr. Charles Rivkin, the US Ambassador to France, received French artists and intellectuals at the embassy. He presented to them the new Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the embassy, Ms Judith Baroody. In perfect French she lauded the Franco-American friendship and recommended the development of cultural relations between our two countries.

If only in the name of this friendship between our two countries, we demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski.

Wow.

Did I miss something? Why has this become an issue of friendship between France and US? And more importantly why do people feel that Polanski should be released? Is he above the law because he is creative and famous? What type of message is this sending to both women and men?

Everyone that has signed this petition is publicly endorsing rape.

Check out  The FBomb

And just for kicks, here is a list of those who signed the petition as of October 29th

Olivia A. Bugnon, Michael A. Russ, Erika Abrams, Marguerite Aflallo, Fortunio Aflallo, Stéphane Agussol, Fatih Akin, Yves Alberty, Stephane Allagnon, Brice Allavoine, Woody Allen, Pedro Almodovar, Gianni Amelio, Greta Amend, Wess Anderson, Michel Andrieu, Roger Andrieux, Pascale Angelini, Yannick Angelloznicoud, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Bernard Anne, Tomas Arana, Frédéric Aranzueque-Arrieta, Alexandre Arcady, Fanny Ardant, Asia Argento, Judith Arlt, Marie-Hélène Arnau, Stéphane Arnoux, Darren Aronofsky, Stéphanie Arques-Voitoux, Olivier Assayas, Alexander Astruc, Simone Audissou, Gabriel Auer, Jennifer Augé, Zdzicho Augustyniak, Alexandre Babel, Vladimir Bagrianski, Jean-Yves Bainier, Hélène Bainier, Lubomila Bakardi, Fausto Nicolás Balbi, Eleonor Baldwin, Jean-François Balmer, Alberto Barbera Museo nazionale de Torino, Sylvie Bardet-Borel, Ruth Barensteiner, Luc Barnier, Christophe Barratier, Ernest Barteldes, Carmen Bartl, Pascal Batigne, Sylvette Baudrot, Anne Baudry, Henning Bauer, Tone Bay, Juan Antonio Bayona, Xavier Beauvois, Liria Begeja, Matthieu Béguelin, Gilles Behat, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Marco Bellochio, Yannick Bellon, Florence Bellone, Monica Bellucci, Véra Belmont, Jacqueline Belon, Jean-Marc Benguigui, Djamel Bennecib, Saïd Ben-Said, Luc Béraud, Jean-Pierre Berckmans, Jacob Berger, Christof Berger, Alain Berliner, Gael Garcia Bernal, Pascal Berney, Xavier Berry, Jean-Paul Bertin, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Jean-Marie Besset, Nico Beyer, Marlène Bisson, Arnstein Bjørkly, Lucien Blacher, Jean-Marc Bloch, Léa Bloch, Marks Blond, Catherine Boissière, Anne-Sylvie Bonaud, Olivier Bonnet, Thierry Boscheron, Renata Bosco, Freddy Bossy, Claudia Bottino, Jacqueline Bouchard, Louise Anne Bouchard, Patrick Bouchitey, Cédric Bouchoucha, Paul Boujenah, Patrice Bourbon, Frédéric Bourboulon, Jérôme Bourgon, Etienne Boussac, Christine Bouthemy, Katia Boutin, Elizabeth Brach, Ian Brady, Jacques Bral, Sophie Bramly, Paulo Branco, Patrick Braoudé, Guila Braoudé, Edwin Brienen, Adrien Brody, Stéphane Brodzki, Isabelle Broué, Max Brun, Merima Bruncevic, Bastien Brunel, Caroline Brunner, Anne Burki, André Buytaers, Anthony Byrne, Come Caca, Marco Cacioppo, Gerald Calderon, Monica Cannizzaro, Peggy Carajopoulou-Vavali, John Carchietta, Christian Carion, Angela Carlin, Henning Carlsen, Jean-Michel Carré, Esteban Carvajal Alegria, Lionel Cassan, Bryan Cassiday, Pascale Castioni, Miss Catadler, Steve Catieau, Morgane Caux, Mathieu Celary, Pedro Celestino, Teco Celio, Muriel Cerf, Dabiel Chabannes, Thierry Chabert, Chagi, Jean-Yves Chalangeas, Daniel Champagnon, Christophe Champclaux, Georges Chappedelaine, Litseselidis Charalampos, Yann Charbonnier, David Charhon, Fabienne Chauveau, Claire Chazal, Valérie Chemarin, Patrice Chéreau, Hubert Chertier, Brigitte Chesneau, Marie-Christine Chesneau, Michel Chevalier, Franck Chevalier, Mishka Cheyko, Catherine Chiono, Catherine Chouchan, Elie Chouraqui, Alex Cichy, Souleymane Cissé, Jean- Pierre Clech, Henri Codenie, Robert Cohen, Olivier Cohen, Lilia Cohen Decerisy, Catherine Colassin, Suzanne Colonna, Jean-Paul Commin, Andrea Concato, Patrick Conrad, Anne Consigny, Alain Cophignon, Antony Cordier, Alain Corneau, Jérôme Cornuau, Bruno Coulais, Guy Courtecuisse, Miguel Courtois, Antoine Courtray, Christiane Courvoisier, Guillaume Cousin, Morgan Crestel, Rudyard Cretenet, Dominique Crevecoeur, Alfonso Cuaron, Estelle Cywje, Isabelle D. Philippe, Nicola D’Ugo, Frédéric Damien, Sophie Danon, Bill Darbyshire, Olivier Dard, Luc et Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Isabelle Dassonville, Sophie Davidas, Robin Davis, Bruno de Almeida, Marion de Blaÿ, Agnès de Kergorlay, François de Lamothe, Hervé de Luze, Artus de Penguern, Valérie de Saint-Do, Wim De Temmerman, Virginie De Wilde, Christel de Wit, Olivier Debert, Viviane Decuypere, Guillermo del Toro, Alain Delannoy, Benoît Delmas, Michel Deloore, Jonathan Demme, Nicolaine den Breejen, Ruud den Dryver, Louisa Dent, Caroline Deruas, Edwin Dervaux, Dante Desarthe, Romain Desbiens, Sophie Deschamps, Thomas Desjonquères, Alexandre Desplat, Chris Devi, Rosalinde et Michel Deville, Guillaume D’Ham, Christelle Didier, Dieter Diependaele, Anne-Sophie Dinant, Kathrin DiPaola, Claire Dixsaut, Julien Doger, Catherine Doire, Xavier Dolan, Fanny Dollé-Labbé, Helen Donlon, Ariel Dorfman, Kristen Doty, Jean Douchet, Thierry Drean, Fabrice du Welz, Marina Duarte Nunes Ferreira, Nicholas Dubreuil, Danièle Dubroux, Marc Dufrenois, Martine Dugowson, François Duhamel, Sissi Duparc, Jean Dusaussoy, Verlaine Eddy, Daniel Edinger, Arne Eickenberg, Yaniv Elani, Majka Elczewska, Benoît Eliot, Gerónimo Elortegui, Elrem, Sam Enoch, Peter Lucas Erixon, Ernest, Ann Eyckmans, Nicolas Fagard, Jacques Fansten, Joël Farges, Gianluca Farinelli (Cinémathèque de de Bologne), Etienne Faure, Pierre Antoine Faure, Guy Ferrandis, Maud et Romain Ferrari, Michel Ferry, Jean Teddy Filippe, Aurélie Fiorentino, Alan Fischer, Bob Fischer, Martine Fitoussi, Sebastian Fleischhacker, Joy Fleury., Michael Flynn, Hugues Fontenoy, Scott Foundas, Werner Fraai, Jean-Robert Franco, Stephen Frears, Patrick Frégonara, Marion Frelat, Thierry Frémaux, Christine Freret, Marc Freycon, Nadine Fruchard, Sam Gabarski, Dominique Gadoin, Jean Francois Gaillard, René Gainville, Sara Gandolfi, Fernand Garcia, Matteo Garone, Vincent Garreau, Philippe Garrel, Yves Gasser, Tony Gatlif, Catherine Gaudin-Montalto, Jean-Marc Gauthier, Costa Gavras, Christiane Gehl-Gabadou, Nathalie Geiser, Lizi Gelber, Isabelle Gély, Jean-Marc Ghanassia, Alain Gil, Véronique Gillet, Terry Gilliam, Christian Gion, Zbiggy Giovanos, Agata Giovanos, François Girault, Stéphane Gizard, Michaël Goldberg, Nelson Gonzalez, Carlos Miguel Bernardo González, Charles Andre Gordeaux, Christophe Goumand, Yann Gozlan, Michel Gras, Eric Gravereau, Martin Gregus, Dominique Greusard, Thierry Grizard, Serge Grünberg, Philippe Gruss, Geoffroy Guerrier, Florent Guézengar, Marc Guidoni, Laurence Guillat, Philippe Guillermo Bernd Günther, Marta Gutowska, Michele Hababou, Mikael Håfström, Lesly Hamilton, Catherine Hargreaves, Ronald Harwood, Dimitri Haulet, Geert Heirbaut, René Heitz, Buck Henry, Michèle Henx, Nicole Herbaut de Lamothe, Ingrid Herbert, Thoralf Herz, Siegfried Hettegger, David Heyman, Laurent Heynemann, Joshua Highfield, Patrick Hirigoyen, Fritz Erik Hoevels, Dominique Hollier, Isabelle Hontebeyrie, Frédéric Horiszny, Andreas Horvath, Robert Hossein, Igor Hrovatic-Hanover, Jean-Loup Hubert, Wendy Hudson, Allison Hull, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Luce Jaccard, Gilles Jacob, Eric et Veronique et Nicolas Jacquelin, Olivier Jacquet, Just Jaeckin, Thomas Jahn, Olivia Janik, Olivier Jansen, Nihad Christian Jarallah, Jean-Baptiste Jay, Anne Jeandet, Marie Jergan, Alain Jessua, Renate Jett, Sébastien Jimenez, Arthur Joffé, Pierre Jolivet, Kent Jones (World Cinema Foundation) , Erik Jørgensen, Emmanuelle Jossifort, Peter Josy, Florence Joutel, Rémy Jouvin Bessière, Alexandra Julen, Paola Jullian, Roger Kahane, Pierre Kalfon, Elisabeth Kalinowski, Michel Kammoun, Pascal Kané, Reena Kanji, Nelly Kaplan, Wong Kar Waï, Katylodola, Elisabeth Keplinger, Nicolas Kermel, Darius Khondji, Nathalie Kiener, Ladislas Kijno, Luc Kinsch, Muriel Kintziger, Richard Klebinder, Jonathan Klein, William Klein, Harmony Korinne, Jan Kounen, Andrzej Krakowski, Chantal Krakowski, Sylvia Kristel, Hanna Kudelski, Diane Kurys, Elzbieta Kusak-Majchrzak, Emir Kusturica, Irene Kuznetzova, Jean Labadie, Eliane Lacroux, Eric Lagesse, Michel Laigle, Stéphane Lam, John Landis, Claude Lanzmann, David Lanzmann, André Larquié, Pauline Larrieu, Jacques et Françoise Lassalle, Marc Latil, Carole Laure, Christine Laurent-Blixen, Pierre Laville, Emilien Lazaron, Junille Le Pesteur, Eric Le Roy, Pierre Le Scouarnec, Fábio Leal, Pawel Lech, Vinciane Lecocq, Eric Lecocq, Patrice Leconte, Linda Lefebvre, Béatrice Lefoulon, Catherine Legal, Delphine Legros, Claude Lelouch, Jean-louis Lemierre, Ann Lemonnier, Julieta Lencina, Alain Lenglet, Gérard Lenne, Claudine Lenoir, Julie Lerouxel, Les Nanaqui, Larry Levine, Charlotte Levy, Lorraine Lévy, Pierre et Renée Lhomme, Stephane Lioret, Katarzyna Lipinska, Marish Lippi, Jean-Marc Loiseau, Catherine Rachel Loiseau, Cynthia Long, Jean-Claude Irving Longin, Marisa Lorah, Marceline Loridan-Ivens, Nicole Lormeau, Joffrey Louis, Michael Louis Wells, Boris Loundine, Rachel Lowenstein, Catalina Lozano, Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski, Flore Luquet, Laurence Lustyk, David Lynch, Bania Madjbar, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Velipekka Makkonen, Laurent Malet, Tim Malieckal, Guy Malugani, Erling Mandelmann, Bertrand Mandico, Michael Mann, Alessandro Marcelli, Carlos Marciales, Yvon Marciano, François Margolin, Joseph Marin, Jean-Pierre Marois, Tonie Marshall, Alexandre Martelin, Alain Martin, Sandrine Martin, Danielle Martinetti, Florent Martinez, Didier Martiny, Mario Martone, Thierry Mathelin, Christine Mathis, Esmeralda Mattei, Nicolas Mauvernay, Yannick Mazet, Christopher, Spencer et Claire Mc Andrew, Natalie Mei, Michelle Géranium Melman-Gory, Guillermo Menaldi, Mathieu Mercier, Muriel Mercier, Frédéric Mermoud, Nicolas Mesdom, Laura Metaxa, Margot Meynier, Allison Michel, Radu Mihaileanu, Anna Mikropoulou, Jean-Louis Milesi, Claude Miller, Lionel Miniato, Eric Miot, Bernard Mirgain, Annie Misserey, Nelly Moaligou, Jean – Marc Modeste, Mario Monicelli, Maryline Monthieux, Miguel Morales, Jeanne Moreau, Frédéric Moreau, Sarah Moreau-Flament, Gael Morel, Christian Morel de Sarcus, Omayra Muñiz Fernández, Carmen Munoz, Stephanie Murat, Christian Mvogo Mbarga, Tim Myers, Anna N.Levine, Elisabeth Nègre, Charles Nemes, Florence Nicolas, Juliette Nicolas-Donnard, Sandra Nicolier, Edouard Niermans, Rachel Noël, Rui Nogueira, Olivier Nolin, Alejandra Norambuena Skira, Anna Nordahl, Fabrice Nordmann, Fabrice O. Joubert, Sigrid Obellianne, Lucien Obellianne, Marc Obéron, Michel Ocelot, David Ogando, Mariana Oliveira Santos, Szentgyörgyi Ottó, Martine Pagès, Eric Pape, Vincent Pappalardo, Jacques Paratte, Nadia Paschetto, Abner Pastoll, Alexander Payne, Guy Péchard, Nicola Pecorini, Richard Pena (Directeur Festival de NY), Lindsey Pence, Olivier Père, Suzana Peric, Vladimir Perisic, Patrick Perlman, Jacques Perrin, Laurent Petitgirard, Cesare Petrillo, Hervé Philippe, Thomas Pibarot, Andréa Picard, Michel Piccoli, Arnaud Pierrichon, Stéphane Pietri, Anne Pigeon Bormans, Samuel Pinon, Claude Pinoteau, Jean Piva, Guillaume Pixie, Gosia Plachta, Michele Placido, Sabrina Poidevin, Agnès Catherine Poirier, Emmanuel Pollaud-Dulian, Maud Pommier-Samaan, Jean-Yves Potel, Stéphane Pozderec, Harry Prenger, Jean et Marie Prévost, Gilbert Primet, Peter Priskil, Angélique Prokop, Stefanos Psaromiligas, Bozena Psztyk, Florence Quentin, Marie-Hélène Raby, Philippe Radault, Tristan Rain, Florence Raphaël, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Joseph Rassam, Rolandas Rastauskas, Brett Ratner, Raphael Rebibo, Redha, Ben Omar Redouan, Carol Reid, Dusan Reljin, Jo Reymen, Laurence Reymond, Catherine Reynier-Barateau, Yasmina Reza, Christiane Rhein, Jacques Richard, Dominique Robert, Margarita Robski, Pascale Rocard, Jean-Jacques Rochut, Christian Rogler, Yannick Rolandeau, Michèle Rollin, Paul Rondags, Avital Ronell, Frank Roozendaal, Graciela Rosato, michèle Rossi-Ducci, Elisabeth Roudinesco, Kontochristopoulou Roula, Laurence Roulet, Joshua Rout, Paolo Roversi, Didier Roy, Jacques Rozier, Charles Rubinstein, Isabelle Ruh, Martin Ruhe, Sonia Rykiel, Anita S. Chang, Esteban S. Goffin, Joaquin Sabina, Marc Saffar, Ludivine Sagnier, Gabriela Salazar Scherman, Thérèse Saliceti, Walter Salles, Jean-Paul Salomé, Jean-Frédéric Samie, Marc Sandberg, Emmanuel Sapin, Léo Scalpel, Jerry Schatzberg, Richard Schlesinger, Kirstin Schlotter, Daniel Schmidt, Georg Schmithüsen, Julian Schnabel, Pierre Schoendoerffer, Barbet Schroeder, J. Neil Schulman, Pierre Schumacher, Pierre-Alexandre Schwab, Ettore Scola, Luis Gustavo Sconza Zaratin Soares, Martin Scorsese, Carole Scotta, Steven Sedgwick, Andrea Sedlackova, Frank Segier, Michèle Seguin-Sirhugue, Guy Seligmann, Dominique Sels, Elis Semczuk, Christiane Semczuk, Lorenzo Semple Jr, Julien Seri, Joël Séria, Catherine Sermet, Olivier Séror, Henry-Jean Servat, Ken Seton-Vyhnal, Sophie Sharkov, Boris Shlafer, Nanan Sikki, Antoine Silber, Pierre Silvant, Charlotte Silvera, Noel Simsolo, Christophe Sirodeau, Philippe Sisbane, Abderrahmane Sissako, Beatrice Sisul, Grégoire Sivan, Petter Skavlan, Romain Slocombe, Jola Lech Slowianska, Marcin Sokolowski, Pierre Somers, Loïc Sorel, Paolo Sorrentino, Valérie Soulier, Arnaud Soulier, Vassilis Sourapas, Yannis Stavrou, Roch Stephanik, Karen Stetler, Denise Stieglitz, Guillaume Stirn, Bernard Stora, Stephan Streker, Gérard Stum, Jean-Marc Surcin, Tilda Swinton, Christian Szafraniak, Piotrek Szymanek, Jean-Charles Tacchella, Radovan Tadic, Mickael Tanguy, Danis Tanovic, Bertrand Tavernier, André Techiné, Katie Teece, Hutfer Teense, Cécile Telerman, Harold Alvarado Tenorio, Marie-Ange Terrier, Alain Terzian, Christian Texier, Jean-Paul Thaens, Valentine Theret, Virginie Thévenet, Alexandre Thiery, Pascal Thomas, Jeremy Thomas, Marc Thomas Charley, Balthasar Thomass, Cyril Thurston, Zelda Tinska, Frédérique Topin, Giuseppe Tornatore, Serge Tosca, Cali Tosca, Serge Toubiana, Walter Toubin, Jean-Luc Touillon, Maurizio Trani, Daniel Treichler, Guillemette Trimech, Nadine Trintignant, Claire Tromeur, Fernando Trueba, Julie Turcas, Mitja Tušek, Tom Tykwer, Alexandre Tylski, Stephen Ujlaki, Fritz Urschitz, José Antonio Valdés Peña, Kenny Valdisserri, Jaques Vallotton, Phil van der Linden, G.W. van der Meiden, Betrand van Effenterre, Leopold van Genechten, Pieter van Hees, Edith Van Her, Rudolf van Maanen, Christophe van Rompaey, Dorna van Rouveroy, Elbert van Strien, Vangelis, Alessio Vannetti, Jean-Pierre Vaucouloux, Lucília Verdelho da Costa, Christian Verdu, Jean-Pierre Vergne, Sarah Vermande, Elizabeth Verry, Maryana Vestic, Julien Veyret, Caroline Veyssière, Francesco Vezzoli, Régine Vial, Daniel Vigne, Vivien Villani, Marta Villarroya Estruch, Marc Villemain, Jean-François Villemer, Daria Vinault, Verde Visconti, Ivan Vislen, Didier Volckaert, Alain Vorimore, Thomas Vossart, Gilles Walusinski, Eric Watton, Lioba Wehinger, Monika Weibel, Florian Weigl, Dominique Welinski, Wim Wenders, Raphaël Wertheimer, Andy Whittaker, Cornélius Wiijgers, Dorothée Wiijgers, Agnès Wildenstein, Anaïse Wittmann, A Wolanin, Margot Wolfs, Peter Woltil, Arnaud Xainte, Steve Yeo, Likhem Young, Paule Zajdermann, Christian Zeender, Claudie Zehnacker, Ania Zenowicz, Fabrice Ziolkowski, Terry Zwigoff.

And signed professional organizations:
-l’Académie des César
- l’API (Association des producteurs Indépendants)
- l’ARP
- l’ARRF – Association des Réalisateurs et réalisatrices de Films – Belgique
- Bund gegen Anpassung
- la Cinémathèque Française
- la Cinémathèque de Dijon / Cinémathèque Jean Douchet
- le Festival de Cannes
- le Festival des Rencontres internationales du cinéma de patrimoine de Vincennes
- le Fonds Culturel Franco Américain
- le Groupe 25 images
- la SACD
- Le Bureau National du SFA
- le SPI
- Le Syndicat National des Techniciens de la Production Cinématographique et de Télévision
- l’Union des producteurs de films
- L’équipe du dernier film de Roman Polanski «Ghost»
- Pathé
- Scott Foundas (LA Weekly)

Boycott anyone?

My Complicity.

My hidden vice, the one thing that makes me weak in the knees in the realm of popular culture is  fashion advertisements. My love for fashion advertisements runs deep. It began during my preteen years when I would diligently cut out ads from my Seventeen and CosmoGirl magazines and proudly plaster them over my bedroom walls. Their glossy shine and carefully crafted poses and backgrounds appealed to me and I ached to be just like the smiling (or scowling, or aloof, or pained) models. They epitomized glamour; success; beauty. Everything important to a thirteen year old girl. At the time I did not realize, or care, that all the models on my walls were incredibly thin, nearly naked, posing suggestively and in some cases subordinate to men. I just liked the way they looked. Fast-forward to now and I am painfully aware. I still cannot help myself while waiting in line at the grocery store or at the dentist’s waiting room. I rip into the magazines with the ten fashion adverts before seeing any actual content and flip through until all the ads become a hazy whirl of colours, clothes, hair, limbs, and glitzy backgrounds.

This love is especially embarrassing for two reasons: First, being a communications student has taught me the all dirty details of advertising’s underworld and how they play to an audiences’ emotional needs, use psychology to manipulate and offer false promises of popularity, health and success. This alone should have me flipping past such advertisements, however, it has achieved just  the opposite. I now find myself using my education as an excuse to “examine” such ads. I am able to relieve some of the guilt that comes as an accessory to these advertisements.

The second reason, which adds to my embarrassment, is my growing feminist disposition. When I look at fashion adverts my feminist radar instantly goes off: what is her body language implying? Who is in the position of power? Why is she dressed in that manner? What was the reasoning behind the make-up and hair? Does she need to be that thin? Whose beauty standards are these? I know the answers. Her body language is implying that she is weaker and easily dominated. She is hardly dressed because “sex sells”. Women are only beautiful when their hair and make-up are perfect. The standards are set by the fashion industry and upheld by both the advertisements and us. It is depressing. It is sad and it is the truth.

My love for fashion ads is embarrassing because I should know better. Unlike other vices, fashion advertisements are not harmless. They champion a completely ludicrous cycle of unrealistic beauty standards that feed into an epidemic of low self-esteem and set off eating disorders, not to mention the promotion of the idea that you are not good enough unless you look and emulate those Photoshopped unrealistically proportioned women, buy those products, wear those clothes, and so on. Then you can be beautiful, cool, popular, successful and happy.

By buying and reading magazines that run these advertisements I am directly supporting them. I should be writing letters of complaint to the fashion companies and the magazine editors and organize boycotts until they agree to stop polluting the minds of young girls with sexism and unrealistic beauty standards. Which is what I am going try to do and I strongly encourage you to do so as well (strange irony that we need to look at the ads in order to write effective and direct letters). So there you have it, my torturous hidden vice. But, I am working to make amends. Are you?

Photo found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/fashion/10TELLER.html

Hawt Nerd Girls?

There is a site out there www.nerdgirlpinups.com Their premise:

“…we are proud to reclaim the title of Nerd and no longer be embarrassed about who we are.” (www.nerdgirlpinups.com/about)

Amen sisters!

Yet, I don’t understand why they have to post pictures of themselves half naked in order to validate their nerdiness? (Side note: I am aware that NOT every picture is the typical scanty clad pinup, some are just fun; however there are more then a few. And the entire premise of the site is of women in the tradition pinup position with added nerdy accessories.)

What does sex have to do with it?

I am a geek. Nerd. Whatever you want to call it. I am proud and not embarrassed of it. But I’m not about to post a picture of me leaning over a game console with only cleavage, a nerd shirt and a smile. How will that help me to be taken seriously as a ‘real’ gamer? Or help me fight the sexism I see in games? If anything it will only perpetuate it.

There has to be a better way.

Feminist-Geek

So, this is where my many loves will come together. Video games, graphic novels, comic books and feminism.

Two stereotypes for 52% of the population.

A plague has destroyed every mammal with a Y chromosome. Except for one man.

This is the basic storyline from the popular graphic novel, Y: The Last Man, written by Brian K. Vaughan. While the author has resisted the stereotyped plot that would place the last man as a stud for sole purpose of repopulating the earth, the same cannot be said about the caricatures of the reactions the women in the series exhibit to the sudden and violent deaths of every man on the planet. With a large number of women to cast Vaughan, unfortunately, only find time to employ either the strong/cold/heartless women or the den mother archetypes for these roles.

On one side of the line we have the strong women, the women who are leaders, who take charge and have goal-driven motives. Daughters of the Amazon, the Israeli army and Australian navy, women run governments, the Sons of Arizona militia, along with individual women through the story typify the flat one dimensional archetype. These women are all portrayed in various positions of power, and they are heartless, cold, unforgiving and ruthless. They’ve stepped into masculine roles by having to secure sources of food, provide shelter and security for themselves and others, and, most importantly, make life-and-death decisions. You can’t help but make the connection between stereotyped feminists and the strong women of Y. The Daughters of the Amazon openly celebrate the end of patriarchy and their oppressor’s death and show their dedication to a world with a ruling matriarchy by removing one of their breasts. Depicted as radical man haters who burn down sperm banks and are quick to violence over scarce resources, the Daughter are seen as crazy thugs with little credibility among other women. Their opinions, their feminist ideology, is therefore voided and invalidated because of this crass and heavy-handed depiction. This mirrors the 1970s man-hating feminist stereotype who were all butch, angry, bra burning, plaid-wearing, mullet sporting women out to tear down the patriarchy. Nut jobs. Crazies. Marginalized.

In contrast to the hardcore feminists Y has a slew of women paraded around as a forlorn bunch, lamenting the loss of their fathers, husbands, boyfriends, brothers, sons and so forth. They are either steadfast in their resolve to rebuild and wait for the day when the men will come back—because someone, somewhere has to be figuring out something, right?—or they’ve given up in a fit of despair. They are shown as weak without men and these women, both groups and individuals, are motivated by the absence of men. The women of Y have two choices: take charge and become heartless and cold, or end up pathetic in a man-less world.

These unfortunate stereotypes Vaughan uses only serves to perpetuate the strong but angry/crazy/cold woman and the nurturing but lost-without-a-man woman.

To Vaughan’s credit, he is aware of the implications of a world without men: 48% of the population gone means that, world wide, 85% of governmental representatives are dead, along with 495 of the Fortune 500 CEOs, 99% of all mechanics, electricians, construction workers, and land owners but 51% of the world’s agriculture labor force is still around; only 14 countries have female ground combat troops; 92% of the felons in the United States are dead (Vaughan, 2002, p.33). With all of that, with all that potential for women, why is Vaughan only able to imagine one of two stereotypes to assign the remaining 52% of the world’s population?

(Vaughan, B.K. (2002). ‘Unmanned’. Y: The Last Man, issue 1. DC Comics, New York, NY.)