Sidetracks - October 4, 2018

[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. For more links and commentary you can follow us on Twitter, Tumblr. You can also support us on Patreon.

Ira

1. This mashup of a taiko and swing by San Jose Taiko, featuring one of their numbers and Benny Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing," is absolutely delightful. I love the energy and joy in this video, and I love the absolutely wild mashup.

2. 'Filed Away' by Kori Michelle is an amazing comic about gender that speaks to me so much. I felt extremely seen after reading this, and it was fascinating to think about how I had encountered all three of the figures Kori mentioned (Eddie Izzard, RuPaul, and Sailor Uranus) and how differently they impacted my life even though we came to many of the same conclusions. I especially loved how each figure is revisited later on with a different perspective.

Jodie

3. A new series of Veronica Mars is coming to Hulu! Granted, I will not be able to see this for 11 million years because I can't get Hulu but I am VERY excited that new content will exist out there.

4. A new official Dr Who trailer is out for the next series, and I am excite! I think, looking at this trailer, that the creators have both stuck really close to a core aspect of The Doctor, and worked hard to create a distinct personality for Thirteen. I'm really hoping to do short reaction posts for each episode of this first series because Jodie Whittaker as Thirteen means a lot to me, so wish me luck.

5. The Captain Marvel trailer finally dropped and woah, I am, once again, excite!

6. Gavia Baker-Whitelaw explains why Nagini's role is everything that's wrong with the 'Fantastic Beasts' franchise.

7. And Tasha Shuri has a thread about the wizarding world and colonialism.

8. Nnedi Okorafor shares the cover for the first issue of Shuri, the Black Panther spin-off comic she's writing.

9. And there's a cover for Kameron Hurley's upcoming book The Light Brigade.

10. I'm going to close out my section with these photos from John Boyega's recent GQ shoot.

KJ

11. Like Jodie, I am very very excited that the first trailer for Captain Marvel has dropped! If you aren't already familiar with the character, or just want to learn more about her history, Polygon has more, with a particular focus on Kelly Sue DeConnick's influence.

12. I found a lot to like in the movie Crazy Rich Asians, and one aspect I particularly enjoyed was the gorgeous costuming and set design. So I was surprised to learn that the film had a comparatively small budget; this article talks about how the filmmakers got access to some of the more luxurious locations and costume pieces.

13. NPR is undertaking an ongoing effort to promote music by female and non-binary musicians called Turning the Tables. I recently listened to a conversation about the making of its most recent offering, "The 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women+", where some of the writers involved talked about their favorite songs and artists, the process of assembing the list, and what it means to create a contemporary canon. You can listen to that converation here, or read Marissa Lorusso's thoughts.

14. If you enjoyed forestofglory's guest post about Moms in SFF, you should definitely check out this list of the many recs that she received in response.

15. [CW: Sexual assault]One of the biggest #TimesUp stories to break in the last couple of months are the allegations of sexual assault against Les Moonves, former president and CEO of CBS. One of the more interesting, and damning, pieces of writing to result from the fallout was this article by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, a writer and producer who is best known as the creator of the late 80s/early 90s TV series Designing Women. Although she was never physically harassed or propositioned by Moonves, she describes how he dismissed and belittled her at every turn, wrecking her multi-year development deal with the network and keeping any of her ideas from ever reaching the air. Yet another reminder of how sexist and harassing gatekeepers have influenced our media: what we see, who is represented, who succeeds and who fails. For more on that thought, I recommend this editorial by Megan Carpentier. Maybe the question we should be asking about whether we can separate the art from the artist; maybe the question is why the media keeps promoting art by sexual predators in the first place.

16. If this stuff makes you as ragey as it makes me, may I suggest the following bit of catharsis: a ranking of ten paintings depicting Judith beheading Holofernes. (Warning for violent images, some rather graphic.)