Sidetracks - February 9, 2013

[helloladies]

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.

---

➝ So Ana got to go to a really cool event in the UK and be a part of a super cool moment with John Green (who we both really admire). I had assumed that tumblr would be a great way to signal-boost and help her find footage, but I cannot get traction on tumblr to get it widely noticed (alas, I am a social media hermit and the normally helpful nerdfighter community haven't returned my calls). I KNOW THIS FOOTAGE MUST EXIST SOMEWHERE, right? If you have a tumblr and might consider reblogging this to help me out and help someone get a record of an important moment, I would be very appreciative. Come on, The Claw! I'M RIGHT HERE.

➝ Would you like a dubstep remix of the Misty Mountains song from The Hobbit? Yes? Enjoy!

➝ The Secret Garden remade and set in the American South? YAY to one but WAT to the other. The Secret Garden to me feels quintessentially British. Of course, I'm happy to see someone adapting the story (because there can never be too much transformative work!) since the original isn't going anywhere, but am still curious about how they're going to pull off the tone.

➝ Based on recent events in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (which Ana and I just posted about), I have found ways of coping with my displeasure by hopping on awesome ships and sailing away into a happier sunset.

➝ Piracy is going around, at least in the circles I read. First, Chuck Wendig's Why I Hope You Don't Pirate My Book made me laugh.

At the very least, if you nab a copy of my book from some shady smut-shellacked Spam-Bot peddling them in some dimly-lit corner of the Cyber-Webs and you happen to like it, I'd love for you to tell other people about it. And maybe, one day, consider buying some other book of mine.

Why haven't I read his books yet? They have an awesome lady protagonist, if I'm remembering it right. But then on the heels of that, I read Seanan McGuire's post on the same topic, Yo ho, heave ho: International Please Don't Pirate My Book Day which hit me in the poverty (she talks about poverty there, which is where I'm living now. It's not very fun, just in case anyone is wondering what poverty is like.).

When e-book piracy comes up, I've noticed more and more there are emotional appeals and stories of impact as well as recognition of the complicated reasons behind piracy, rather than the shaming that happened a few years ago (now people see that it's not only about the "I WANT FREE STUFF NOW!" greedy, gross digital thieves). Can't say I'm sorry to see the shaming, born of extreme privilege, check out.

➝ Russell Crowe's obsession with maps is getting out of hand.

➝ I want a sequel to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland LIKE BURNING. I hope this comes to fruition because I loved the first film and would love it if the same characters came back for a sequel. ;___; (via The Mary Sue)

➝ Jennifer Lawrence may have chubby fingers, but secretly they're filled with awesome.

---

➝ To continue with my aweome book lists are awesome theme from last week, the 2013 Amelia Bloomer Project list is out! And of course I want all the books now.

➝ Two very interesting music links:
The Only Black Guy at the Indie Rock Show by Martin Douglas and Lauren Beck's "Women Who Rock! (On the Still Male-Dominated Business Side of Indie Rock)".

➝ Awesome new tumblr: WTF, Evolution?.

➝ Lastly, Elizabeth Gilbert's response to Philip Rorth's perpetuation of the myth of the artist as "tortured genius" was really satisfying to read.

---

➝ The House of Commons voted to allow marriage for LGB people in the UK, which among other things means that (as long as it passes through the Lords where the bishops sit) if the central governing body of a religion opts to allow it, religious ministers who want to can perform religious marriage ceremonies for LGB people and marry them on religious property. This would be fantastic. A couple of follow up points:

The Guardian lets people see if their voted yes, no or didn't vote. My MP (who I very much did not vote for) is one of those geniuses who didn't even vote.

Sarah E. Brown talks about how marriages were previously annulled when a partner transitioned and wanted legal Gender Recognition. Is the government going to reinstate them when same sex marriage (as opposed to civil partnership) becomes legal?

➝ I knew a bit about the cruelty of the Magdalene laundries but wasn't aware that a suspicious mass grave had been found at one nunnery. Here's a reposted article from 2006 explaining what happened to women who lived at the laundries and what they're fighting for in 2013.

➝ I love how February has become Female Fandom month this year. People are making a big push to create femslash on Tumblr, you can see which characters have been nominated for the rarewomen fic exchange and halfamoon is currently spending 14 days of celebrating women with fic, up until Valentine's Day. February is like a love in right now. (thanks to chalia for introducing me to rarewomen and halfamoon).

➝ How about banding together for women in another way this February and voting to send one woman into space? Axe is the company that makes Lynx deodorant and the Lynx adverts are consistently sexist. This newest campaign to send a 'good man' into space is hey surprise also sexist, as Gavia at the Daily Dot makes clear. So let's support Molly Pfaff, a lady who has set out to change the terms of Axe's offer and have fun in space.

➝ THAT'S NOT FEMINISM! A handy table to help you explain the next time someone is being ignorant about feminism.

➝ The Beheld has some insightful commentary about 'Judgements'; Rosea Lake's art photo of a leg marked up with skirt lines, which has been going around Tumblr:

'To me, it illustrates why my own wardrobe is actually fairly limited in range. The first time I saw it, I was struck by how effectively it communicates exactly what it communicates. The second time I saw it, though, I made it personal and mused for a moment about how save one ill-advised maxidress and one black sheath that hits just above the knee, literally every single one of my hemlines is within an inch of "flirty." This is semi-purposeful: It's a flattering length on me, and I'm a flattery-over-fashion dresser, so I've stuck strictly with what works. And isn't it a funny coincidence that what happens to flatter my figure just happens to be labeled as "flirty" here, when in fact "flirty" is probably, for the average American urban thirtysomething woman, the most desirable word on this particular chart to be described as?'

➝ Breast milk contains pluripotent stem cells. I had absolutely no idea what that meant before I read this article, but now I think it's pretty cool:

'The discovery of pluripotent stem cells in human milk is a game changer, whether your perspective is regenerative medicine or developmental biology. Research on pluripotent stem cells can now potentially rely on hBSC collected non-invasively, reducing reliance on human embryonic stem cell research.'

This could mean less resistance to stem cell research from pressure groups. (via CherylMorgan)

➝ Book Riot talks about the possibility of making e-books pay as you go. I too have all the questions about this.

➝ Something I have come across that I really don't have enough information to analyse and would love to hear more knowledgeable people talk about is this interview at Bookslut with Ann Cvetkovich, author of 'Depression: A Public Feeling'. As far as I can work out Cvetkovich doesn't believe in medical explanations for depression or Prozac, although she acknowledges their worth for others and has written a book which she describes as a 'memoir' about the social pressures which she thinks may create depression. You can also read an excerpt of her book at Bookslut.

Comments

[bookgazing]

I am super excited about the possibility of a sequel to Alice in Wonderland. I started out thinking it was kind of obvious (strong ladies detest social convention at all turns) but fell in love with it as soon as she went down the rabbit hole.

And Ana I love that Tumblr :D Evolution is weird sometimes (but also, so much fun).

[phoenix]

On the Axe/Lynx ad thing: that ad is in the women's toilets in my local gay club. On the insides of the loo doors where you can't miss it, leaving unavoidable time sitting in front of it being vaguely irked by the 'be a man' thing. I'm unshakeably gendered female so was left cold, but curious what someone more masculine or GQ would think faced with it.

A friend of mine used to live in a house built on the location of a Magdalene laundry. It wasn't till she was moving out that I made the connection (laundry-related, and the house was right by a convent). Yeah, I could not have lived there myself. Commentary here on the McAleese report.