Journal Of A Lilliecat

Life

2007-07-19T00:29:19Z

Wow, I haven't posted in a while.

Okay, quick rundown:

1. Got a lateral promotion at work. I've been offered a place on Canon's e-mail support group. I've been helping part-time with them for a while, but I got offered the full-time spot yesterday. Starting Monday I'll be on a rather insane schedule (insane as in I'll have to wake up a five in the morning to make shift), but I will have Friday and Saturday off. With any luck, I'll be working from home three days a week in a month.

2. Double-pointed knitting needles are now officially my bitch! Jen B., those rainbow colored stocking are now underway.

Ummm... that's about it for now.

Sick

2007-06-22T05:07:03Z

Hopefully erikonil is over the worst of the cellulitis. She's slept nearly all day on and off. When I woke her up at 11:30 tonight she mentioned that it was the first time she'd been able to sleep more than an hour or two at a time. sasha_panic is going to be home tomorrow, so she'll be able to keep an eye on her. I'm going to have to take her back to the doctor's on Saturday, though. He wanted to take another look at her leg. With our family history, it's probably a very good idea. Depending on her level of consciousness before I leave for work, I might she if she'll let me check her temperature.

Updates

2007-06-21T02:21:49Z

Been a while since an update, so here goes!

Had a lot of fun in Philadelphia last weekend with the gang. Wizard World was fun, and I'd defenitely be up for a return trip next year - so long as we can get my parents' van for the trip. ^_~ Out of everyone I spent the least amount of time at the convention. Not being one for autographs or needing to show portfolios there were really only a few panels that I wanted to hit. So for the rest of the weekend I was hoofing it around the city.

kahmfan was very generous by lending me and erikonil his Canon AE-1 Program, so we had two cameras for the weekend. That worked out very well on Friday since erikonil and I both were walking around. Much easier to concentrate on actually taking pictures when you don't have to constantly swap the camera around. There were some things I didn't get a chance to see. Namely Eastern State Penitentiary. That'll be on my list for next year.

The hotel was awesome. It used to be a bank and was built in the Art Deco style that I just adore. That's the great thing about a lot of big cities: the architecture.

Not much else to say right now. I'm still contemplating starting a new costume, but haven't decided on what it will be. Anime, comic, musical? Not sure.

Wigs?

2007-06-09T07:47:27Z

Okay, seeing the CATS tour last weekend has me in the mood to work on costumes again. But I'd like to step it up a bit. Since I've been making CATS costumes I've been making rug yarn wigs and I want to move up to actually making real wigs. Does anyone have any suggestions on good books or anything like that on the subject? Preferably something with good step-by-step directions for making the wig cap and stuff.

Could It Be... Satan?

2007-06-08T02:12:02Z

Overall, good day at work helping various idiots with simple problems and a few people who actually had problems.

Interesting moment? I got a call from Lucifer. Swear to gawd. Lucifer shoots with a Canon PowerShot A540.

Quizzes!

2007-06-01T01:17:20Z

Which Programming Language are You?

Which OS are You?

Which File Extension are You?

Which Caffeinated Beverage are You?

Which Website are You?

Which Nigerian spammer are You?

Three!

2007-05-28T17:23:24Z

Three! Three happy birthdays!

Happy birthday to my mom - who had the birthday first.
Happy birth day to Tina - whose mutual birthday with my mother always made it easier to remember.
And finally, happy birthday to my usual waitress at Denny's, who knows my drink order before I even sit down.

DPNs

2007-05-25T04:03:37Z

DPNs... You are truly a worthy opponent. The battle will be fierce, but in the end I shall be triumphant! This I declare!

Feminism Just Means We Want Equality

2007-05-22T23:02:24Z

I consider myself a feminist. I also consider myself a comic fan. I enjoy reading them, but also understand that for the Big Two (Marvel and DC comics), I'm not the primary audience. There have been a few token attempts to woo female readers (Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane, Spider-Girl and DC's MINX line) and there are honestly great books that appeal to women as much as men (Dr. Strange: The Oath, Runaways). But the average comic is still drawn with the male audience in mind. I mean Supergirl was launched to try and get female readers into DC. However, they've missed that mark so badly that Eddie Berganza, one of DC's editors, put out an Open Letter to women to get them to read the book.

So what inspired this post? It's the cover to Heroes for Hire #13 and this post in erikonil's LJ.

Let's start with what Heroes for Hire is. It's a comic published by Marvel that takes heavily from 1970's camp/exploitation movies. The main characters are Colleen Wing, Misty Knight, Black Cat, Tarantula, Shang Chi, Orca, and Humbug. The female characters are generally portrayed in a sexual way, but more often then not I would say that they come off as self-assured and strong. Like here, here and here. I just want it to be known that I don't have issues with those three covers. Taking the book for what it is, it fits.

Now back to the cover of issue #13. Why, if I didn't have a problem with the previous covers, do I have a problem with this one?

1) Faces.

Just look at them. The previous covers have had women who were self-assured. In this picture Misty looks like she's about ready to cry. Not like she's going to fight, not like she's angry, but she's about ready to cry. It's not surprise, worry or horror. The eyebrows are wrong for those emotions.

2) Naughty tentacles?

I think a lot of people who read this journal could honestly say that one of the first thoughts through their heads when they saw the cover was "naughty tentacles" or something to that effect. I have heard that this issue has the team fighting the alien Brood race, and I'm fine with that. However, I don't recall the Brood being quite so slimy. Maybe something changed since the last time I read a story with them in it, but from what I recall they didn't have slime. But back to the main point, the image and the implied association is really inappropriate for a comic that Marvel rates as T+ (depending on the version of the rating system you're looking at it, T+ either means for years nine and up or thirteen and up).

3) Treatment of character.

This kind of links back to the last point, but did no one at Marvel remember that they've recently rewritten Black Cat's history to include rape/sexual abuse? Doesn't that at least make this image a little bit tacky? I mean, she's shrinking away from a tentacle that has just oozed slime all over her bare breasts. The implied imagery is just a bit harsh.

Secondly, why don't we get to see reaction from Shang Chi? He's there - we can see his shoulder!

4) Perception.

What's on the cover likely has nothing to do with what's in the book aside from the common characters: The Heroes for Hire and the Brood. Inside I'm sure there will be much ass-kicking and it will be a great story that ties into a larger whole. However, we also know that in the comic industry the cover is meant to be the hook and get someone to pick up the book. Grab the new or casual reader sort of thing. First impressions are important. Here's a hypothetical: A teenage girl who has gotten into comics via manga sees Spider-Man or some other comic movie and decides to give American comics a shot. She hears about Daughters of the Dragon or Heroes for Hire because I know that a lot of female readers have been recommending it for new female readers because of the strong female characters. Is this image the one that Marvel wants to be that person's first exposure to this comic? Is this the grab? Is this the hook?

Secondly, this cover does have a lot of rape imagery - bondage, submissive/scared expressions, dripping and sticky fluids, and alien body parts that, when taken out of context, do resemble those hentai tentacles that we've all heard so much about. It may not be a conscious decision that created it, but Marvel needs to be aware that the imagery - the suggested, subconscious imagery - is there.

I'm not going to say that it will be everyone's first impression. I can't assume to know what people are going to think. I can only offer my impression and pass on the impressions that have been told to me by others. There are people who will think that this post and other posts like this are over-reactions. There are others who will join me in thinking that this cover - while it would be fine on perhaps a Max book - is not appropriate for this book, no matter the roots that this book has.

I would like to explain, though, why there is such a strong reaction from me and others about this cover. And this is different from the explanation about the cover itself. Comics, especially the mainstream American market, is a boys' club. Since the re-emergence of the super-hero genre in the 60's the main audience has been men. Comics tend to cater to them as a result. A side-effect of that is that women often feel like they are a second-class audience at best or an unwanted market at worst. Skimpy costumes, huge breasts, few variations in body type and a sexualization of the art of female characters make many female readers uncomfortable. Women have said that they were put off buying the Emma Frost series from Marvel a few years back because of the Greg Horn covers that made the books look like a Maxim cover. By the time the covers reflected the actual Emma from inside the comic, the series was almost over.

"But male characters are also drawn with perfect bodies" is a common rebuttal to the above. Yes. This is true. Male characters are drawn to the perfection of the male form as well. That's not what the main complaint is. Male characters are generally not sexualized. Putting someone in a skin-tight costume is not sexualizing them. Making someone physically perfect is not sexualizing them. Posing someone in a provocative pose for the single purpose of putting them in a provocative pose is sexualizing them.

The problem isn't just one cover, or one story, or a single person. It happens from time to time, and if it was just one thing every so often it wouldn't be an issue. But it's not. It's a number of things from the Women in Refrigerators" phenomena from comments from artists/writers in interviews to comments from editors. It's a cumulative effect. Most female fans just roll their eyes when they see/hear/read these things with thoughts that range from "boys will be boys" to "well, it's comics so I have to put up with it. It's just how it is." If a women posts a complaint or gripe on a message board, she's often told that she's overreacting, causing her to think twice about speaking up again.

In closing, I'd like to leave you with this. It's a post made by a woman with the internet name of Livia Penn and was posted originally Girl Wonder, who says it all very eloquently:

One day, a new bookstore opens up in your neighborhood. You don't know what kind of books they sell, but you're curious, so you go inside. When you walk in, the first book you see on the display rack is this one:

http://www.gayps.de/shop/images/bilder/fly/127/1270040000.jpg

And you look around and the majority of stuff in the shop-- posters, t-shirts, book covers, figurines, magnets, etc.-- is plastered with images like this:

http://shop.gay.ru/w2adm_pics/4599_1.jpg

I think you'd probably conclude pretty quickly, "OK, I guess I'm not going to be doing much shopping here. The target audience is out there, but these books are not for me."

Now imagine that this shop is, in fact, your local comics shop.

(And think about what it means, that I had to google *explicitly pornographic comics,* meant for no other purpose than to get guys off, in order to find images that exaggerated male physiques to the extent that superhero comics regularly exaggerate female physiques in their all-ages comics. It's kinda yucky, isn't it?)

You say that you wouldn't mind a Nightwing statue like this. Well, fine. But imagine that the majority of the covers featuring male characters looked like this. Not to mention every t-shirt, every poster, every figurine-- everything looks like softcore gay porn, with all the male characters depicted with hugely exaggerated *sexual* characteristics, over-sexualized poses, and skimpy costumes-- something like these images.

Imagine this as a Superman cover.
http://images.tlavideo.com/images/catalog_gaybase/234699.jpg

Or this as a Spider-Man poster.
http://aethlos.com/fillion-button.jpg

Or this as an X-Men t-shirt.
http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=patrickfillion01hy9.jpg

Would you want to buy that comic? Tack up that poster on your wall? Wear that shirt?

Now imagine that you got mocked and called names and patronized and argued with if you *dared* to speak up and ask if maybe it would make a little more sense if the Flash wore running shorts instead of a thong.

"You're just jealous! I bet you're a big fat ugly loser with a small dick. Why do you want fat gross heroes? Why are you such a Puritan, are you afraid of sexuality? This is just sheer fanboy entitlement. Comics aren't for straight guys anyway. Shouldn't you be worrying about oppressed males in Amazonia instead? Besides, Nightwing looks *happy* to be washing Wonder Woman's car in nothing but army boots! Oh, and did I mention, you're just jealous! Go away now!"

Because that's the choice female fans are often faced with, if they want to buy a comic with Hawkgirl in it, or pick up a poster with Supergirl on it, or wear a t-shirt with Mystique on it.

Either deal with the fact that your favorite characters' primary purpose is to be someone else's porn-- or speak up and get attacked-- or don't buy comics at all.

B-Day!

2007-05-15T13:44:21Z

Happy B-Day big_danny_t!

There But For The Grace Of God...

2007-04-24T01:25:42Z

The dorm at VA Tech where those first two shootings took place was the same one that my brother and sister-in-law were RAs last year. They knew the RA that died and what really gets me is that I know that in the same situation that both of them would have done the same thing and gone to help that poor young woman.

To Anyone I Freaked Out...

2007-04-17T00:56:47Z

Yeah, sorry for the rather cryptic nature of the post the other day. I'm fine, I just got the emergency room visit from Neko sorted with Sentara. There was a bit of confusion as to whether or not the insurance that I had been covered by at Dreamlight would foot the bill, or if I was uninsured at that point in time. So that's finished now, I just need to get the payments started and I'm all set.

Sigh Of Relief

2007-04-15T21:58:23Z

Things are sorted now. Everything is straight with the hospital and I can finally breath a sigh of relief.

Kitties!

2007-04-03T02:13:32Z

To the Photobucket Gallery of roller_boy's lovelies!

Just follow Maru!

By the way, for anyone on DeviantArt, I've opened a new account there on account as I can't remember the password for my old one and I've since lost the e-mail associated with it. My new account is Username: idiosylph and I'll be loading up my photographs there over the next few days.

Curse You!

2007-04-01T22:30:35Z

Curse you, roller_boy! You now have me desiring to make a Cirque costume. And since this is 100% your fault, you can expect me to pick your brain until I have the information that I desire.

In other (not-so) exciting news, I am doing a slash-and-burn of my apartment over the next week. Does anyone know a good place to donate a bunch of craft supplies?

Hey, Daaaan...

2007-03-23T00:43:26Z

Guess who has an EOS 5D with an EF 70-300mm lens to play with over the next week? ^_~

Stuff

2007-03-21T21:48:00Z

Counting down until our trip to Florida this weekend to visit roller_boy. I'm getting the car ready today and getting my stuff packed.

I've also started a new knitting project. Another scarf, this time based on Mark's scarf in RENT. It's going to be double knit in worsted weight yarn, and I might try it in lighter weight yarn if it feels too heavy. But I have found that knitting a six foot long scarf is going to take quite a while if knitting it with size 3 needles (3.25mm for my amigos who don't use US sizes). I'll post more on that as it gets worked on, but right now I'm going with 42 stitches cast on, which will come down to about six inches across with the double knit taken into account. Then it's K1, slip 1 purl-wise for 40 rows, switch colors and continue until you have nine navy blue and eight white stripes (light grey if you want to go with movie version, I think). Then add fringe.

Happy 2 Years!

2007-03-20T01:04:48Z

Here's to Donnie and Jamie and their wonderful two years of marriage.

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. ~Author Unknown

Amen

2007-03-07T23:29:21Z

It's not until you actually try film/photography that you suddenly see the paranoia in this day and age.

Check it out

Musical Stuff

2007-03-05T01:47:16Z

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Funny show. A whole song about a kid's first public boner.

isthatjamie, I think you'd really like it. There are a lot of fun bits about language in it.

Yay!

2007-03-03T14:32:15Z

Happy birthday to erikonil! Here's to 27 years!

Happy (Belated) Birthday!

2007-02-10T17:49:09Z

Happy Birthday, khamfan! Sorry it's a bit belated, but I was dead after work last night. So here's an anime hottie to make up for it!

Snagged From Saffity

2007-01-29T00:56:32Z

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 movies, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 movies on this list. Copy this list mail, go to your own LiveJournal account, paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the movies you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun!

Totally stolen from saffity

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
() Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
(X) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
Total: 9

(X) AnchorMan
(X) The Princess Bride
(X) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
(X) Saw
() Saw II
(X) White Noise
() White Oleander
() Anger Management
() 50 First Dates
(X) The Princess Diaries
() The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 16

(x) Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
(x) Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
(x) Scary Movie 4
() American Pie
() American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 20

(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1
(x) Resident Evil 2
() The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 28

(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
() Signs
(x) The Grinch
(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
() 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 32

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
() Meet The Parents
() Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
Total so far: 37

()A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
() Flubber
Total so far: 39

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
(X) Ghost Ship
() From Hell
(x) Hellboy
(x) Secret Window
() I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 44

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child's Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
() Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
() Sixteen Candles
() Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
(x) The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 48

() Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
() Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
() Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
() Predator II
(x) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total so far: 54

(X) Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
() Christine
(x) ET
() Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
() Maid in Manhattan
() War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 58

() Best Bet
() How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She's All That
() Calendar Girls
() Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
() Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
Total so far: 64

(x) X-Men
(X) X-2
(X) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
() Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
() Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
() The Skulls
() Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 73

() Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street
() Old School
() The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
() The 40-year-old-virgin
Total so far: 74

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 80

() BASEketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
(x) Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
() Three
Total so Far: 82

() The Jacket
(x) Kung Fu Hustle
(x) Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
(x) Willard
Total so far: 89

() High Tension
() Club Dread
(X) Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
() Orgazmo
(x) Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
Total so far: 96

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
(X) Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
(x) Kingdom of Heaven
() The Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
(x) Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 102

(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
(X) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
(x) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 110

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
(X) Animatrix
(x) Evil Dead
(x) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
(x) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total so far: 120

Saturday

2007-01-26T03:36:10Z

Hmmmmm... Bit of a quandary. Last Tuesday, erikonil volunteered our place for the Saturday get-together, totally forgetting that she had already arranged for us to go to a movie double header in Hampton. Movies are Blood and Chocolate that I know Donnie wasn't interested in seeing, but the other is that hitman movie that I know we are all interested in seeing. So, question is, would people want to do the movie thing in Hampton this weekend and then do the get-together at our place next weekend?

Bulletproof...

2007-01-18T00:23:17Z

Remember that anti-bear suit guy?

I guess the future predicted for us in Halo and other such games is neigh