TROPICALHURRICANESTORMSANDY!! D:::

I live on the Eastern part of the US, the part that they’re predicting will be hit HARD by Tropical Storm Hurricane Tropical Storm Hurricane (?) Sandy. Meh.

Now if you don’t live on the Eastern coast of the US, let me give you a synopsis of the recent history of storms in this area… Last year, we had a lot of rain. I’m pretty sure it was record-breaking… And then, at the end of the summer, we were hit by Hurricane Irene, a storm so damaging that its name got taken off the rotating list of hurricane names. To put this into perspective, other storms whose names have been retired in this way are Hurricane Floyd and Hurricane Katrina. Irene also flooded my basement with up to 3 feet of water because the power was out, so obviously, the sub pump wasn’t

There’s Five Days until the Doctor Who Series 7 Premier, and Bones has a trailer out!

So I’ve been really looking forward to the Doctor Who Series Seven Premier, because it is FIVE DAYS AWAY!! It is even more special. considering it will be the first episode I don’t watch as a re-run for the first time, like pretty much all of the ones I’ve watched up until now. I am determined to savor whatever screen time Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have until The Dreaded Fifth Episode Of Sadness and Depression and Paranoia and Weeping Angels*. Back to the matter at hand, Series Seven Premier: Asylum of the Daleks looks absolutely AMAZING! I mean, the Daleks are back**! and the Doctor is (most likely) out to destroy them yet again.

Doctor Who: Asylum of the Daleks airs on BBC and BBC America and Space (in Canada) on September 1, 2012. Do Not Miss It!

As BFF and Fellow Bonehead Celine said in a previous post that Bones’ eight season is coming out soon: September 17, 2012. Words cannot fully express how high my expectations for the show are right now, after the  down-spiral-y mess that they called ‘Seventh Season’. I have seen the trailer about five times, looking at EVERYTHING and ANYTHING, in hopes that SOMETHING will stand out and make this The Best Season Ever, which in my opinion be a tough act to follow, after the First***, Third****, and Fifth***** seasons.

As far as I can see, we get our kick-ass Brennan back! And she’s been keeping in touch with Ange! and she’s blonde! and she looks great!

that’s from a few years ago…

Emily, in the season 8 trailer. BLONDE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so, just keep glued to your TV. Also, BBC America is having a DW marathon on friday, starting at 8 am (ET).

*Not the episode’s actual name, of course; that really wouldn’t stick Market-wise, now would it? The actual name is “The Angels take Manhattan”. Check your local listings for time and stuff.

**I’ve been told that being that enthusiastic about the return of the Daleks is a bit alarming, if not creepy, mainly because Daleks are murderous misunderstood and adorable-looking  creatures. Also, it’s their first appearance since series five’s Big Bang. Now you get why I’m excited, right?… right?

***Where do I start? The Pilot? The Man in the Morgue? The Graft in the Girl?

****The Third season is awesome except for, you know, NO Zackaroni, and the fact that that psycho Pan Nunan had to go and kill Booth while Brennan was rocking out to Cindy’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. What the  FRACK. 

*****This is possibly the most Fangirl Shipper-Friendly season. And that lasts through the sixth season. Of course, these are two seasons of constantly wanting ti MURDER both Brennan and Booth. They were so FRUSTRATING! AND SO GOOD!******

******I sound like a maniac, don’t I? well, never mind that…

‘Fake Geek Girls’… whaaaaaaat?

I don’t know what it is with (so-called)  Cool People and geeks, or with my parents and me calling myself a nerd, or with Joe Peacock and ‘hot chicks’ wearing super-hero costumes.

Seriously!

I have tried (and tried, and tried) to figure out the first two issues. In doing so I have ended up with far more questions than I had in the first place.

To begin, I think it would be useful to have definition. Check out Possibly One Of The Most Accurate Venn Diagrams Ever below:

A Geek, as we can so clearly see, is a person that is both intelligent and obsessive. Alright. But then, what is a cool person? Are Cool People not intelligent? not obsessive? are they, say, jocks? or those super-model types? Who says Geeks and Nerds aren’t cool?

Here we run into our first problem.

I happen to think the Conventionally Cool People are actually rather boring. [Please note I’m making vast generalizations!] Instead, its people who are thought of as ‘Geeks’ and ‘Nerds’ that I seem to have an easier time relating to. My friends and I are all self-described Nerds. We fangirl over pretty much anything. In fact, this blog is ‘dedicated’ to our Nerd-ness.  We’re smart, and obsessive (we do say so ourselves…) and Socially Awkward.  We unironicaly fall in love with stuff, and nobody should be able to say whether we love stuff enough to be considered Nerds or Geeks.

Then there’s the ‘stigma’ attached to any one of these words. Thanks to the media, Nerds and Geeks are like characters straight out of shows like  Freaks & Geeks ,The Big Bang Theory or Bones. We’re not all Sheldon Cooper  or Zack Addy or Neal Schweiber¹. No matter how much we admire them, we shall never be them. And I say this as someone who thinks Sheldon Cooper is one of the Coolest Humans I should Ever Be So Lucky to Meet. Geek or Nerd should be a word among many used to describe someone. Just because I call myself a Nerd, it doesn’t mean I’m going to be Just A Nerd. I’m also Bookish, a  Nerdfighter, Klutzy, Feminist, Lover of Food. It would be like objectifying people, rendering them into one-layered beings, without much substance.

This leads me to what originally prompted me to write this post.

A person is not a label. People, by definition, are many-layered beings that are constantly evolving. This is something Mr. Joe Peacock does not seem to understand.  He seems to think that a ‘hot chick’ who goes around SDCC wearing a super-hero costume can be nothing more than a woman who is flaunting herself at true geeks (aka: Men) because she is getting paid to do so, but not because she has “any interest or history in gaming”. What is also sadder than him being genuinely convinced that pretty women can’t be true geeks, is that he seems to think Geeky Men are essentially Losers.

What I’m talking about is the girls who have no interest or history in gaming taking nearly naked photos of themselves with game controllers draped all over their body just to play at being a “model.”  I get sick of wannabes who couldn’t make it as car show eye candy slapping on a Batman shirt and strutting around comic book conventions instead.

I’m talking about an attention addict trying to satisfy her ego and feel pretty by infiltrating a community to seek the attention of guys she wouldn’t give the time of day on the street.

I call these girls “6 of 9”. They have a superpower: In the real world, they’re beauty-obsessed, frustrated wannabe models who can’t get work.

They decide to put on a “hot” costume, parade around a group of boys notorious for being outcasts that don’t get attention from girls, and feel like a celebrity. They’re a “6” in the “real world”, but when they put on a Batman shirt and head to the local fandom convention du jour, they instantly become a “9”.

They’re poachers. They’re a pox on our culture. As a guy, I find it repugnant that, due to my interests in comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and role-playing games, video games and toys, I am supposed to feel honored that a pretty girl is in my presence. It’s insulting.

What kind of society is this, where a person’s beauty dictates their worth? Where their interests dictate how ‘In’ they are? Why does Mr. Peacock feel that a model couldn’t possibly be genuinely interested in gaming? Is it possible that he watched that Wizards of Waverly Place episode where Alex’s model friends start playing Dragons & Dungeons or whatever with Justin and Zeke? Why does he imply that a Geek Guy would be honored to see a girl who would normally ignore him In The Real World dressed up as his favourite comic-book character?  Why does he feel that in a Geek’s Mind a normal woman would instantly become 100× more attractive simply by donning a Wonder Woman costume?

Is Emily Deschanel any prettier, or any more attractive/badass dressed up as Wonder Woman (“We’re like Wonder Woman and Super Man after a bad date.” *fangirling*) than she is wearing her every-day clothes?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I didn’t think so.

As for the “Who Decides Who’s a Geek and Who’s Not” dilemma:

I believe that Felicia[Day]’s main drive is probably writing and acting, and that geek culture is where she chooses to exercise her talents. She’s found a niche, and she works within that niche – but so have Nathan Fillion, George Takei, Wil Wheaton… All actor/writers who make the most of their geek celebrity. However, no one gets it in their blood to call these guys out.

Clearly he must have some power when it comes to deciding who’s a Geek and who isn’t. Who says that Nathan Fillion and Wil Wheaton aren’t geeks? Hasn’t it occurred to him that actors go for papers for reasons other than a big paycheck after every episode? I’d like to think that maybe Fillion signed on to Joss Whedon’s Firefly because he liked being a part of the Jossverse, or that Mr. Wil Wheaton actually was a Star Trek fan before he became Wesley Crusher. (“WE ARE THE WESLEY CHRUSHERS!!!!” Oh, Shelly!!!!!). Maybe he really liked the Flight Suits.  Maybe he was a fan of Eureka² or The Big Bang Theory before going on as Dr. Parrish and himself.

The last line of the quote above makes him sound like a hypocrite, when you think about what he said only a few lines previously. Afterall, shouldn’t he at least afford those so-called ‘hot chicks’ and ‘booth babes’ the same benefit of the doubt he affords to these men?♦

FOR FURTHER READING:

Geek Out: Booth Babes Need not Apply

Forbes: ‘Fake Geek Girls’: How Geek Gatekeeping is Bad for Business

HelloGiggles: Fake. Geek. Girls.

¹Guys, remember when Sam and Bill helped Neal find out why his dad was being so weird towards Sam? And it turns out he was cheating on Mrs. Schweiber? I think your Dentist is someone you should never mess with. I mean, what if they screw up your teeth?

²Why is it that I just found out Eureka ended rather recently? I was starting to ship Jack and Allison! and Holly and Fargo! and Andy and Sarah! and Lupo and Zane! waaaaahhhhh!!!

Michael Phelps is a Super Human and I got a Yellow Fever Shot

Guys, I don’t mean to brag, but today I got the Yellow Fever Shot and I lived to tell the tale. I got a (tiny) needle stuck in my arm, and a virus/bacteria thing (Oh, my Bio teacher must be so proud right now…) injected into my bloodstream, and I SURVIVED. I feel like freaking Loki of Asgard, or Rory Williams or something.

Also, Michael Phelps is a Super Human. He’s the person with the most Olympic Medals ever! I mean, 19 Olympic Medals! This coming from a person who’s deathly afraid of needles, and can hardly walk on flat ground! Much less a treadmill!

When my sister and I heard about the his little piece of news via the Colombian newscast (in which they pronounced his name Michel…) last night we were sent into a fangirling frenzy. It was the silent kind, of course given that they were also talking about the Colombian athletes who are also doing impressively well, and oil prices, and the declining popularity of our Prez. We have been Phelps Phans (you see what I did there, right? ;)) since the Beijing Olympics, and since my sister has fallen slightly in-love with him. Then again she also fell in love with a European tennis player she saw on 60 Minutes and Eli Manning and the Hemsworth Brothers… (yes, Thor is better looking than his little brother, Veronica. No, I’m not kidding…).

Anyways, we hope THE SHARK, as I’m told he’s been labeled continues to do wonderfully in these London Olympics, and that he continues to rack up medals he will then conserve in little bags he keeps outside his gas-chamber-esque bedroom. We are very proud of him, although obviously not anywhere nearly as proud as his mother, Debby. (I love that Subway commercial of the two of them!)

You, dear reader, should also be extremely proud of me, because I DIDN’T CRY at the Red Cross Chamber of Torture (ie: Immunization). Also, my cousin would like the universe to know that he too, got the Yellow Fever Shot as well as the Tetanus Shot. Oi, Cybermen! One of your kind is currently sitting next to me! He’s the one that got the shots!♦

Doctor Who’s Matt Smith talks to Entertainment Weekly… YAAYYY!!!

I heard the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly featured on its cover someone (and something) I, personally, am incredibly fond of: Doctor Who and his TARDIS. THE DOCTOR AND HIS TARDIS! Inside (according to EW’s site…because I am currently unable to HOLD THE ACTUAL THING!) Matt, Stephen and the rest of the Who cast and crew spill on what’s to come this season (starting Aug. 25th!) incluiding the Most Awaited NYC/Weeping Angels episode (:O), The Ponds Leaving (:(), and The New Companion, of whom virtually nothing is known, although it has been widely speculated (and discussed during lunch with Maddy and Elizabeth…) that she happens to be the Doctor’s Daughter.

Anyways, in the ‘web exclusive’ interview  Matt talks about shooting in New York and Jenna Lousie Coleman (the New Moon Panic¹), and also Andrew Garfield. I’m actually not making this up. He does mention Mr. Spiderman Man.

Go Check it out! ♦

¹Moon Panic is an anagram of the word Companion. It was also the code name Karen Gillan had to use in her audition. HAH.

Seventeen’s Body Peace Treaty, and the on-going fight to end the war on Body Image

Earlier in the spring, Julia Bluhm, a fourteen year-old teen from Maine petitioned that Seventeen, a popular girl’s fashion magazine, feature atleast one photo-spread a month featuring completely un-altered and air brush-free models. She started an online petition, which quickly garnered attention and thousands of signatures. At a meeting with Ann Shockley, Seventeen‘s Editor-In-Chief, the magazine agreed with Julia’s petitions, but no firm commitments were made.

On July 3, however, Ann Shoket announced that all of Seventeen‘s staff had signed an eight-point Body Peace Treaty where they vow to:

1. Help make your life amazing!  You have big dreams and we want you to achieve every single one of them!
2. Never change girls’ body or face shapes. (Never have, never will.)
3. Celebrate every kind of beauty in our pages. Without a range of body types, skin tones, heights and hair textures, the magazine–and the world–would be boring!
4. Always feature real girls an models who are healthy. Regardless of clothing size, being healthy is about honoring your natural shape.
5. Be totally up-front about what goes into our photoshoots. You can go behind the scenes on our Tumblr (seventeen.tumblr.com) and see the whole shebang!
6. Help you make the best choices for your body–food that fuels you, excercise that energizes you–so you can feel your absolute best each day.
7. Give you the confidence to walk into any room and  own it. Say be-bye to those nagging insecurities that you’re not good enough or pretty enough– they’re holding you back from being awesome in the world!
8. Listen carefully to you. If something in the magazine confuses you or makes you feel bad, we want to hear about it.

It is fantastic that a publication the size of Seventeen is finally paying attention to a teenage girl’s criticism! What’s even greater: the fact that they are working to right their wrongs.

Admittedly, there are other fashion magazines aimed at teens who arte even bigger users of Photoshop and air-brush (hello, Teen Vouge!!), and feature only models of a certain size, etc.  After coming under-fire from the Media and several other organizations for hiring under-age and un-healthy looking girls to walk the runway and appear in photoshoots last New York Fashion Week, many designers and magazines (like Vouge) moved to make ammends: they said they would be more careful about who they hire; they would try to hire models who didn’t look like twigs, but those that had a more realistic shape. They would also impose a stricter control over the ages of their models, so as to make sure no girls under the age of sixteen (16! apparently sixteen year-olds are mature enough to deal with rejections from designers, and possible sexual abuse/harrassment from photographers, etc.) were hired.

Everywhere you look, be it in school, at the mall and even AT THE GYM, you see girls and women wishing their bodies looked a  certain way, or that their skin was blemish-free  and perfect like that of the models in the magazines. On TV all you hear sometimes are women ragging on each other about how they look, and using the other’s insecurities about their bodies to BRING THEM DOWN. You see tweens and teens comparing their bodies to older models’! It happens to even those of us who actively fight with ourselves when we get too judgey about ourselves. I have seen it happen in my bedroom when my sister brings down those damned   ‘Get In Shape For Your Crush/ Valentine’s Day/ Spring Break/Summer/ The Holidays/ The New Year’ inserts she gets in Seventeen and Girl’s Life, and she starts “Oh, I need to loose all this belly fat…” and “Ugh, my thighs are so big…”. Truth is, she still has the body of a little girl. She has baby fat, and she’s being told that because she isn’t twiggy and blemish-free she isn’t perfect.

Thanks, Julia Bluhm for helping us all see that we can change things , and thanks to the folks at Seventeen who pledged to help make things right. ♦