ThePrettiestOne

Brothers Antonius and Vijay Nazareth of the YouTube musical group AVbyte have created “Disney Villains The Musical,” a song about evil Disney villains and how they are all just misunderstood. It features devilishly good vocals by Maleficent (Elizabeth Oldak), Ursula (Kim Carpluk), Cruella De Vil (Michelle Cameron) and The Evil Queen (Tiger Darrow). We have previously written about AVbyte and their ongoing series of pop culture musicals.

Maleficent and her fellow Disney Villains have had enough!

 
Mo Asumang, who’s the daughter of a black Ghanaian father and a white German mother, talks to the BBC about her new documentary The Aryans in which she peacefully confronts racists about what makes them tick.

There are some real zingers...

When Cats Forget How to Cat (Part 2)

Previously: Part 1

Film enthusiast Tony Zhou of Every Frame a Painting has created “How to Do Visual Comedy,” an analysis of director Edgar Wright‘s humorous cinematic styles and techniques. We previously wrote about Tony’s study of Steven Spielberg and his fascinating long takes in movies.

If you love visual comedy, you gotta love Edgar Wright, one of the few filmmakers who is consistently finding humor through framing, camera movement, editing, goofy sound effects and music. This is an analysis and an appreciation of a director so awesome that Marvel had to fire him on a holiday.

via Andy Baio

One of the core reasons I make books now is because Ray Bradbury scared me so happy, that what I am perpetually compelled to do is, at best, ignite the same flame in a young reader today. Most of my comics, certainly the ones I write myself, are scary ones or revolve around scary themes. In the last ten years I began to notice that they also featured, as protagonists, children. Even when the overall story wasn’t necessarily about them, there they were: peeking from behind some safe remove, watching.

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Shock, frustration, and rage. That’s our reaction to the hate-filled video record that Elliot Rodger left behind. The 22-year-old, believed to have killed 6 people in Santa Barbara this week, left behind a terrible internet trail.

I cannot and will not speculate about the “mind of the killer” in such cases, but I can offer a little perspective on the nature and social context of these acts. This sometimes entails showing how mass shootings (or school shootings) remain quite rare, or that crime rates have plummeted in the past 20 years. I won’t repeat those reassurances here, but will instead address the bald-faced misogyny and malice of the videos. It outrages us to see a person look into a camera and clearly state his hatred of women — and then, apparently, to make good on his dark promises. It also raises other awful questions. Are these sentiments generally held? If you scratch the surface, are there legions of others who would and could pursue “retribution” as Mr. Rodger did? Is serious violence against women on the rise?

Probably not. Rates of sexual violence in the United States, whether measured by arrest or victimization, have declined by over 50 percent over the last twenty years. As the figure shows, the rape and sexual assault victimization rate dropped  from over 4 per 1000 (age 12 and older) in 1993 to about 1.3 per 1000 in 2012.  And, if you add up all the intimate partner violence (including all rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault committed by spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends), the rate has dropped from almost 10 per 1000 in 1994 to 3.2 per 1000 in 2012. The numbers below include male victims, but the story remains quite consistent when the analysis is limited to female victims.

Of course, misogyny and violence against women remain enormous social problems — on our college campuses and in the larger society. Moreover, the data at our disposal are often problematic and the recent trend is far less impressive than the big drop from 1993 to 2000. All that said, “retribution” videos and PUA threads shouldn’t obscure a basic social fact:  22-year-olds today are significantly less violent than 22-year-olds a generation ago.

Chris Uggen is a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota and the author of  Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy, with Jeff Manza. You can follow him on twitter and at his blog, where this post originally appeared.

(View original at http://thesocietypages.org/socimages)

perfectvic:

LITERALLY MY FAVORITE

Oppressed Majority (Majorité Opprimée), an incredibly powerful short film by Eléonore Pourriat, focuses on a vulnerable man who is relentlessly harassed and subjected to the sexism and gender-based violence of a female dominated world. Ms. Pourriat made the film in 2010 in an effort to awaken the sleeping voice of feminism.

In France five years ago people asked me if being a feminist was so contemporary. Today no one asks. The feminist fight is more important now. Five years ago I felt like an alien. Now my film is making a buzz because rights are in danger. You see that in Spain with abortion rights. The whole thing about marriage for all, the homophobia and sexism. It is like a black tide today in France. – The Guardian Women’s Blog

via Brain Pickings

chronic-genderbender:

"Those poor boys"

"She deserves to be punished too."

"I’m not saying I support rape, but-"

"Sorry to say - she deserved it."

"She put herself in harm’s way"

"But if she was fingered, then that’s not rape."

"She ruined their lives."

“"So the Hulk was this classic male power fantasy. It’s like, most of the people reading comic books were these people like me who were just these little kids getting the shit kicked out of them every day… And so then they created She-Hulk, right? Who was still smart… I think She-Hulk is the chick that you could fuck if you were Hulk, you know what I’m saying? … She-Hulk was the extension of the male power fantasy. So it’s like if I’m going to be this geek who becomes the Hulk then let’s create a giant green porn star that only the Hulk could fuck."”

-

Man of Steel Sequel Writer David Goyer Calls Marvel’s She-Hulk “A Giant Green Porn Star,” Insults Geeks

FLAMES! ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE!

(via themarysue)

Goyer is writing Wonder Woman in BvS.
This disgusting, creepy stain has just guaranteed that if it were free: I wouldn’t see BvS. If you PAID me, I wouldn’t see it.
Congrats, WB/DCE. You’ve hung your franchise hopes on someone who is alienating half your audience.

But thanks for the warning, David.

(via carnivaloftherandom)

Geek boys are fucking atrocious.

(via red3blog)

What the ever loving fuck?

(via fivetimesperweek)

This man is in charge of writing Wonder Woman’s first big-screen live-action appearance. I would love to support that endeavour but this is unacceptable. He’s also signed on to help write and produce the Sandman film adaptation with Joseph Gordon-Levitt which absolutely breaks my heart. I’m so disappointed with DC right now. 

(via latetothepointofknowledge)

I love you, Sarah.

bookshop:

gailsimone:

dbvictoria:

Gail Simone is on a tear on twitter this morning.

I said some stuff.

In case you missed it: The “She-Hulk” thing

"So what happens when the audience, male and female, is smarter than the people making the product? They outgrow it."

Directly relevant: DC’s cancellation of nearly 52 of its New 52 titles:

“Comics fandom is becoming larger and more diverse all the time, and DC doesn’t seem able or willing to expand the diversity of its own lineup accordingly.”. 

alex-v-hernandez:

stachionalgeographic:

nethilia:

fuckyeahnerdpr0n:

always reblog “good guy satan” meme

chill ass bitch

Clothes.

wormwoman

Posters of this comic (and most every other comic on my site) can be ordered at my shop.

ohnoproblems:

mulodyne:

nineprotons:

bycrom:

By Crom! is my joke-a-panel autobiographical comic featuring life advice and spiritual guidance from Conan the Barbarian. It ran from January 2012 to May 2014, and is collected in two books, The Collected By Crom! and Full Colour Cromulence. You can read the archives on WealdComics.com, and grab the books in print and in PDF.

By Crom! will be tabling with Weald Comics at TCAF, VanCAF, TAAFI and possibly FanExpo Toronto!

This is weirdly inspiring.

this is such a good comic

thanks conan

liquid-liamm:

what Germans do while waiting at traffic lights

reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it reblog it … Continue reading →

Have you visited Pleated Jeans today?

twentypercentcooler:

the-hero-dies:

Wonder Woman and sassy Batman. This image is based off of a series of tweets by Chris Sims that I included above. I thought it was funny, so I drew it.

Fan. Tastic.

couple-of-dumbasses:

coldsoymilk:

the last one tho

you sir are fucking amazing

Important. Truths. 

#kindnessispunkrock

On Being Offended:

notexactlysober:

When I first began publicly writing about games, I wrote about sexism in Heavy Rain. I shared that I found the treatment of Madison’s character problematic, how running around in her underwear for a useless dream sequence and nearly being drilled in the genitals was…

gynocraticgrrl:

Jessica Rey presents the history of the evolution of the swimsuit including the origins of its design, how it has changed overtime and the post-feminist association of the bikini symbolizing female empowerment. She refers to neuro-scientific studies revealing how male brains react to images of scantily clad women versus images of women deemed modest and what the implications of the results are for women in society.

(Note: As the OP, I disagree with Rey’s approach to putting the onus on women to alter ourselves rather than to alter the male perception of women – brain wiring has plenty to do with socialization and if we worked against the culture that fuels men’s objectification of women, women’s clothing choices would matter far less in terms of how men perceive us and determine how to interact with us).

Jessica Rey - The Evolution of the Swim Suit

+1 on the commentary

“Here is how the internship scam works. It’s not about a “skills” gap. It’s about a morality gap.

1) Make higher education worthless by redefining “skill” as a specific corporate contribution. Tell young people they have no skills.

2) With “skill” irrelevant, require experience. Make internship sole path to experience. Make internships unpaid, locking out all but rich.

3) End on the job training for entry level jobs. Educated told skills are irrelevant. Uneducated told they have no way to obtain skills.

4) As wealthy progress on professional career path, middle and lower class youth take service jobs to pay off massive educational debt.

5) Make these part-time jobs not “count” on resume. Hire on prestige, not skill or education. Punish those who need to work to survive.

6) Punish young people who never found any kind of work the hardest. Make them untouchables — unhireable.

7) Tell wealthy people they are “privileged” to be working 40 hrs/week for free. Don’t tell them what kind of “privileged” it is.

8) Make status quo commentary written by unpaid interns or people hiring unpaid interns. They will tell you it’s your fault.

9) Young people, it is not your fault. Speak out. Fight back. Bankrupt the prestige economy.”

-

The moral bankruptcy of the internship economy | Sarah Kendzior (via brutereason)

solarbird added: see also the intrinsic fraud of the prestigious internship. (via solarbird)

this comes from the top rope.

(via bainard)

TRUE NATURE FACT: Wild lemurs have been observed using giant millipedes in a rather interesting fashion. They grab the millipede and nip it, which freaks the millipede out (understandably) so that it goes into its defensive mode and secretes this nasty toxic gunk that tastes foul and contains cyanide. The lemur proceeds to “milk” the gunk from the millipede, nipping it occasionally to keep it defensive, and rubs the gunk into its fur, where it acts as a natural pesticide, killing fleas and other parasites that make the lemur itchy.

This’d be cool in and of itself, but there’s another side effect. Apparently if you rub millipede goo on your fur, you get high. The lemurs—this has been observed in brown lemurs and in ringtails—display every sign of being high as little fuzzy kites. Their eyes get glazed and buggy, they stagger around in the branches, their tongues stick out, and I assume once the naturalists stop looking, they go pig out on Doritos and giggle a lot.

This is all really, honestly true (except for the Doritos.) So that got me thinking about brave lemur warriors, gallivanting around the canopy, who instead of flasks of brandy, keep their pet millipede around for those times when warrioring just gets too darn stressful. And hey, nobody likes fleas in their armor, so it’s probably good for that, too.

(Obviously millipede should only be used responsibly and in moderation. Do not millipede and drive. Just say no to millipede, kids! Etc.) - Ursula Vernon

hunkgame:

patbaer:

Pete Holmes- Someone Loves Your Body.

I LOVE THIS. 

(I do think the idea that self worth is only based on whether anyone wants to fuck us or not is way problematic, BUT I mostly just love throwing out the idea that fat ladies are lonely spinsters that no one wants to fuck, because that is all the way not true.)

STILL KIND OF WANT TO BE A BABY SQUIRREL but yeah this is adorbs. Heteronormative as all heck, but adorbs.