kate

The steampunk-inspired fire-breathing Maleficent Dragon is by far the most impressive float of Disney Festival of Fantasy parade at the Magic Kingdom. It’s one of the most detailed as well. In the video below, Parade Designer Richard Improta from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Creative Entertainment and Tony Award-winning Production Designer Michael Curry discuss the inspiration behind this show-stopping Maleficent float.

Have you seen Disney Festival of Fantasy parade yet? Which was your favorite float?

Making The Maleficent Steampunk Dragon for Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade originally posted on
The Disney Blog - Disney News and Information -- by fans, for fans . If you're reading this on a different site, please click the above link to read the original story. Thank you.

oxboxer:

so like in between all the other “draw yourself as x” memes

WHY IS THERE NO “DRAW YOURSELF AS THE POKEMON CHAMPION” MEME

You guys it’s literally the best thing you can draw yourself as, because you get to be a DOUBLE BADASS. Not only are you the best trainer, you’re also the best at some other thing, like yo for real:

Blue: Overachieving Min-Max Asshole
Lance: Dragon Whisperer Superhero
Steven: Just Obscenely Rich
Cynthia: Master All-Black Wardrobe Owner
Iris: Monster Space Princess
Diantha: Actual Movie Star

Cool stuff: Looker and Banette and SPIES. Smash em together and you get CHAMPION OX, boss of the International Pokemans Police!!!

Be the overpowered jerk you always dreamed of! Pokemon!!!

i am extremely serious about this, people

-----Based on our Japanese blog-----

Shizu-Nephrite-Mega-Fan-Mecha here. The latest Petite Chara release is out of this world--literally! On behalf of the moon, it is my pleasure to preview round two of their Sailor Moon series, Atarashii Nakama to Henshin yo! (Transform with New Friends!)

I am Sailor Moon, champion of justice!

This time around Usagi-chan comes to us as in her gallant white Super Sailor Moon. Her new expression is as adorable as it is dependable.

A variant expression has her winking in true Usagi form!

I will right the wrongs on behalf of the future moon!

That's right, round two brings us the first inclusion of Chibi Usa aka Sailor Mini Moon in super mode. Hair this daring could only be from the future!

Also like Usagi is her variant winking expression. If you want to be the best, start by copying the best! She's well on her way to being the cutest sailor scout, if nothing else.

Enchanted by the New Age, here I am, Sailor Uranus, acting gorgeous!

Next up is everyone's favorite high flying precog, Haruka Tenoh! At half her normal size she is twice as cool and stylish.

This wink is going to have fans of Uranus seeing stars!

In the same way, enchanted by the New Age, here I am, Sailor Neptune, acting gracefully!

Sailor Uranus' gentle lover Michiru Kaioh is as elegant as ever in SD form. As one of two water-based sailor scouts, her wavy blue hair reflects her ocean affiliation.

Here's a rare treat--the typically mild-mannered and ladylike Sailor Neptune shows us a girlish smile!

I am the soldier of revolution, Sailor Pluto!

Guardian of the Door of Space-Time and long hair extraordinaire Setsuna Meioh at your service! Don't tell the other girls, but Sailor Pluto was always my fave growing up! Garnet Rod in hand, this solemn beauty patiently protects the underworld.

Her variant expressions bears a faint smile while hinting at the underlying loneliness of her duties.

Soldier Of Death and Rebirth Sailor Saturn!

The ominus Hotaru Tomoe is outfitted in her trademark purple costume and wields the Silence Glaive. True to her enigmatic nature, her variant stern expression remains shrouded in mystery. Check back soon, though. We'll upload a photo as soon as it is released.

Round one featured randomly inserted Lunas, and round two is no different. This time around she comes to us as Chibi Usa's Luna P Ball. Good luck on the draw!

*Luna P Ball is a randomly inserted bonus item.

Six characters with two expressions each adds up fast! Pair these outer solar system senshi with round one's inner solar system sailor scouts and Tuxedo Mask for a full lineup!!

(C)武内直子・PNP・東映アニメーション

*Photos are of a prototype and the actual product may differ.

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Apocalypse Fabrication from Etsy is a CNC metal cutting and fabrication company located in California run by the husband and wife team of Jason and Katie Lister. And wow, do they produce some fantastic stuff. I’ve got some coasters at my house but I rarely take them out. These I’d hang on my wall. Take a look at creations inspired by comics, video games, sci-fi, and more!

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“This font seems a little dated, let’s try something more modern. I’ve always loved that Comic Sans.”

There was a time in 2013 when I was convinced that I was the only person on the internet not playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I knew that it was enormously popular (it’s sold over 7 million copies thus far, and gave the 3DS a significant sales boost). I knew that I couldn’t go on Tumblr without encountering a gazillion gifs of it. But here’s a thing I didn’t know — nearly half of the game’s development team was female. And the way Nintendo sees it, that played a big part in New Leaf’s success.

As detailed by Laura Hudson in an article at Wired, Nintendo approached New Leaf with a sensible line of thinking: If you want a game that appeals to both men and women, why not have both men and women make it? Director Aya Kyogoku, who recently spoke at the annual Game Developers Conference, said that the experience of working on a more balanced team was eye-opening.

“Having worked on this team where there were almost equal numbers of men and women made me realize that [diversity] can open you up to hearing a greater variety of ideas and sharing a greater diversity of ideas,” she told WIRED. “Only after having working on a project like this, with a team like this one, was I able to realize this.”

Producer Katsuya Eguchi, who has led the Animal Crossing team since its N64 days, echoed these sentiments.

“We wanted to make sure that the content allowed all the players to express their individuality,” [Eguchi] said during the GDC talk, “that it is was something men and women of all ages would enjoy. So in order to view the project from a variety of perspectives, we made sure the team was made up of people from various backgrounds and life experiences.”

I feel there’s only one appropriate way to express my feelings toward that.

On the subject of diversity, Hudson asked Kyogoku about the noted lack of skin color options for player avatars. Kyogoku replied that they wanted players to “represent and express their individuality, so there are a variety of things we are planning on doing to facilitate that in the future.” I know a lot of players who’d love to see that happen.

Read the full article at Wired.

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Story details girl's pact with a demon to regain her happiness

Next weekend, on April 5th and 6th,  the increasingly gigantic indie comics beast known as MoCCA Fest descends on New York City, where indie comics artists from all over the world bring their wares, and new books to debut. If you haven’t been before, it’s inexpensive to attend and very welcoming, though fair warning: hard on the wallet because the reasonable prices on the indie comics will make you want to buy more, more, more!

As we’ve mentioned before on Bleeding Cool, the small publisher So What? Press, based in Brooklyn, has three new books debuting at MoCCA Fest. One we’ve previewed already, Tales of the Night Watchman: Staycation, and you can see that here, but here are the other two to check out and look for at So What? Press’s booth, #B13.

Firstly, we have Tales of the Night Watchman Presents: It Came From the Gowanus Canal, written by Dave Kelly with artwork by Molly Ostertag (Strong Female Protagonist, Tales of the Night Watchman Presents: The Night Collector). At 40 pages, it’s $5.00 in price.

And here’s our preview:

So What? Press’s debut of Jess Ruliffson’s Invisible Wounds will also be on hand at MoCCA Fest, and it’s a comics format journalism account of working with wounded veterans and the tales they have to tell about their life experiences. At 16 pages, it’s $4.00 in price.

 

MoCCA Fest Previews: It Came From The Gowanus Canal And Invisible Wounds From So What? Press

The School of Visual Arts in New York is a major training ground for new comics artists and illustrators, and this year they’ve put together an anthology by 16 of their top talent to debut at MoCCA Fest, the home show of indie comics in New York running next weekend, from April 5th to 6th. The anthology is called Rookery: Urban Legends and Myths and it’s a sight for sore eyes, a wild collection of fantastic creatures, unbelievable tales, and in its own way a subversive account of modern life in 40+ pages of full color comics and illustration.

You’ll find Rookery at several tables at MoCCA Fest in the hands of various contributing artists, but a sure fire way to nab a copy is to go to the AVA Cartoon Allies Table, at #A10 and #A11 during the show. One of the SVA contributors, Molly Ostertag, will also be supporting her artwork on the webcomic Strong Female Protagonist with the series’ writer Brennan Lee Mulligan, at table #B13.

The SVA team describe the book as follows:

 

MoCCA Fest Previews: The Anthology Rookery: Urban Legends And Myths By 16 Of SVA’s Finest

Star Wars: Rebels is a new animated series from Disney and Lucasfilm, and it creates a new world of stories and characters in the time between the films Star Wars: Episode III and IV.

To introduce viewers to the show, several individual character videos have been released showing the story behind each character and how they will be brought to life on screen.

Among the characters in this series is the street-smart teen hero center of the show, Ezra (voiced by Taylor Gray), who finds out the Force is strong within him:

It is through his relationship with Kanan (voiced by Freddie Prinze, Jr.), a Jedi Survivor and crew member of the Ghost, that Ezra will learn the true nature of his power:

Other Ghost crew members include Zeb (voiced by Steve Blum) – a.k.a. The Muscle – whose favorite pastime is beating up Stormtroopers:

The spunky Sabine (voiced by Tiya Sicar) serves as the Ghost’s explosives expert who also loves to tag her work with graffiti:

And Hera (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) is the Twi’lek pilot of the Ghost:

Of course, it’s not Star Wars without the droids, so meet Chopper, the grumpy Astromech Droid of the starship Ghost:

Star Wars: Rebels, executive produced by Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Greg Weisman, is scheduled to premiere in Fall 2014 as a one-hour special telecast on Disney Channel and will be followed by a series on Disney XD.

Meet the Characters from Disney’s Upcoming Star Wars: Rebels Animated Series originally posted on
The Disney Blog - Disney News and Information -- by fans, for fans . If you're reading this on a different site, please click the above link to read the original story. Thank you.

So, here’s the thing: I was going to at least try to pretend I could be objective about this movie. But it turns out that when you’ve loved something going on ten years, and spent most of those years thinking you’d never see it again… seeing it again is really pretty amazeballs. Like, I’ve basically been floating through the past week and half on a cloud of emotions and unicorns hearts.

And objectivity is overrated, anyway. LET THE SUPER SQUEE DEBRIEF BEGIN.

On a scale of one to SO SATISFIED, OMG how good was this movie for you? It is literally impossible for me to imagine being more satisfied. (Well, maybe if the movie was twice as long? And if they’d done an NC-17 version of the love scene? I guess I could imagine being slightly more satisfied then.)

Suffice to say: it was super good for me on a spiritual level, I consider ever cent I contributed to the Kickstarter to be money really really spent, and if you’re looking for any sort of technical critique… this is probably not the place to find it.

So you loved all the things? Pretty much. In no particular order:

1. “Hello, Veronica.”

Veronica Mars is still my best girl. And for all the love triangle crap in the promotional materials, I’m so glad the actual story centered around her figuring out who she wants to be as an adult.

If she’d never gotten to leave Neptune and we’d found her nine year later, still living that same life, it wouldn’t have worked as well. But she got out. She spent nearly a decade experiencing that stable, normal, and drama-free life she always thought she wanted. And I love that the movie was about putting that fantasy Veronica to bed and coming to terms with the fact that the real Veronica is happiest in the middle of that gritty, messy, exciting life she left behind.

(And let’s be honest: a Veronica who spent her days protecting the wealth and power of Fortune 500 companies? Would have been a Veronica who’d essentially lost her soul. I’m so glad we got to see her realize that.)

2. “That’s a funny thought, isn’t it? Me as a stabilizing influence.”

The Logan we got in this movie was pretty much everything I’ve ever wanted for him. Mature! Balanced! But still snarky and good in a fight! The Logan we left in season three was a hot mess. After losing so much, Veronica was basically the only stable thing in his life; without her he was a complete wreck, but even being with her wasn’t enough to keep him from constantly imploding.

The Logan we meet in the movie finally figured out he needed to break that pattern. And best of all — he didn’t do it for Veronica. He did it for himself. (Maybe I’m just old now, but self-awareness and personal growth? Such a turn on.)

I’ve seen a few people complaining that they just couldn’t see Logan surviving in the military. It didn’t strike me that way. Yes, Logan’s always had problems with authority. (Um, understatement.) But a huge part of that was that he’d been betrayed so badly by the authority figures in his life. Growing up, Logan had either too little oversight or way too much. And then he became an emancipated minor with severe emotional trauma, abandonment issues up the wazoo, and zero structure.

What he desperately needed was to be a part of a family unit again, to have a purpose aside from self-destruction, and be given some consistent discipline and rules that didn’t some from a place of abuse. I can absolutely seeing the Navy satisfying all of that. (Not that I’ve given this way too much thought, or anything.)

So, yes. I love the idea of him making the choice to channel all of his issues with violence and authority into something positive. And as a bonus: also becoming the kind of person who can truly deserve Veronica when they meet again — I mean, his heart was basically on his sleeve from the moment he first saw her at the airport, but this was a Logan who didn’t try to push, who just wanted her to be happy even if it meant leaving again, and who would have walked away without a word if that’s what she needed.

(Also, I love that effity uniform.)

3. “Come back to me.” “Always.”

On a similar note: EVERYTHING TO DO WITH LOGAN AND VERONICA WAS SUPER GOOD FOR ME, YOU GUYS. Falling back into old patterns? The tenderness of him tucking her in? The way neither of them could be in a single scene together without smoldering? The wall sex?

FAIR WARNING: NEVER GETTING OVER THIS

Even after nine years of radio silence, they still know each other so well — him knowing if he needed her, she’d be there, her never having a doubt about his innocence… and the look on his face when he saw her walk out of the house in her messier hair and casual clothes and old bag. (I mentioned this was all good for me on a spiritual level, right?)

I know a lot of people hated how unresolved the show finale was, but I’ve always thought it was perfect for Logan and Veronica. If the show had ended with them happily together, I’d have loved it, but I’d never have believed they’d last for the long haul. Not as damaged as they both were at the time. That last look, though… that was all I needed to know they’d never really be over each other. And my personal head canon was always that they’d go their separate ways, grow up a bit, and come back together when they were both mature enough to make it work.

So basically, my head canon was this movie. IT MADE ME SO HAPPY, YOU GUYS.

4. “You know what else says a lot about a guy? His choice of friends.” 

When the idea of Veronica Mars, FBI was still floating around as a legitimate possibility, pretty much the only thing I didn’t love about the idea was that it would probably stretch credulity to get Wallace and Mac involved on a regular basis.

The ten year reunion device solved that issue for the movie, but it also set them up very nicely to stick around for any future stories, whether in the novels or (fingers crossed!) a movie sequel. Mac working at Kane software would have been fine on its own, honestly — but now that she and her fabulous haircut are working full time with Veronica? Perfection!

I hope that we find out a little bit more about how Wallace ended up as a teacher — I think he’d be great at it, but I’m a little sad he apparently gave up on his mechanical engineering dreams. Completely worth it, though, just for that scene where she called him for a favor. (Also: Wallace! Still the best BFF ever — giving Veronica light-hearted shit about Logan, instantly jumping into action when her sex tape came on at the reunion. Just generally being his Wallace self. I LOVE YOU, WALLACE!)

5. “Goodbye, Veronica.”

Poor Piz. I’ve never disliked him so much as I’ve never thought he and Veronica were right for each other. And when they announced he’d be in the movie, I was a little confused that he would be included in a high school reunion.

But the way it played out, I’m so glad he was there — not just because he was a useful symbol of the life she gave up in New York, but because we got to see grown up, successful, confident Piz reconnecting with Mac and Wallace, and to play all that extra history with him, Veronica and Logan in all their scenes.

And I like that he got the dignity of being the one to break up with Veronica. Oh, Piz. You’ll find a girl who’s right for you some day, buddy. (Extra heartbreak kudos to Chris Lowell for nailing the little about-to-cry voice break when he told her goodbye.)

6. “Who’s your daddy?”

KEITH MARS! Still the best fictional dad on the planet! (Sorry Coach Taylor and Uncle Mac — you guys are close seconds, I swear.) Honestly, just seeing Keith and Veronica together again would have been worth the price of admission by itself. How they can still both read each other like a book, and the love between them? I HAVE SO MANY KEITH MARS FEELINGS, Y’ALL.

THE FACE MY HEART MAKES
WHENEVER I SEE KEITH MARS

Basically, the only complaint I have about Keith in this movie was there wasn’t enough of him. But what we got was so great — standing up to the Neptune cops beating on those kids, not letting the Sheriff insult Veronica in front of him, all his pride Veronica’s accomplishments… and disappointment at her choosing to follow his footsteps instead. (And his pride, again, waking up in the ICU to the news that she’d solved the case and struck a blow against Lamb.)

Oh, Keith. Never change.

7. “Franco? Have you seen that candid camera video of him trying on skinny jeans?”

Ira Glass, Dax Shepard, half the cast of Freaks and Geeks… all of the cameos in this movie were fabulous. And I say this as someone whose PFGHTSD (Post Franco General Hospital Traumatic Stress Syndrome) is off the charts. But Franco mocking Franco, I can stomach.

Almost every review of the movie, good or bad, has mentioned the amount of fan service. Which was off the charts. And I think that’s as it should be? This was a movie by the fans, for the fans. The theater where I watched was full of people who got every reference, laughed at every wink/nudge joke, and screamed at every cameo.

The celebrities were nice and all, but what I really enjoyed was getting the old gang back together. Vinnie, Cliff, Principal Clemmons, Gia, Madison, Luke, Celeste Kane, slimy Sean Friedrich. (Even Corny!) It was like seeing old friends again. And they all made Neptune feel like Neptune. (Also, can we talk about how perfect and adorable the entire Leo scene was? LEO. WHY ARE YOU SO AWESOME?)

8. “Of everyone I ever knew / I’ve learned to count on you”

Great music was a signature of the show — the tv soundtrack is actually still one of my favorite albums. I don’t love every song on the movie soundtrack quite as much, but the ones that work, really, really work. (Yes, I’ve basically had “Prosthetic Love” on repeat for days. DON’T JUDGE. IT IS LYRICAL PERFECTION.)

I would never have thought to choose “Chicago” for the scene in Logan’s convertible on the bridge. But when I saw it, it just seemed right.

Also, “Stick Up” is damn catchy.

9. “When the class war comes, Neptune will be ground zero.” 

Returning to the show’s roots by with the police corruption/brutality side plot was a smart choice, and not just because Neptune’s class and race issues are as topical as ever. The show’s always done some of its strongest work when dealing with the systemic abuses and inequalities underneath Neptune’s glossy surface. And refocusing on that lent Veronica’s choice to come back and fight the good fight more weight.

The end visual of Weevil getting pulled back into his old life by forces outside his control was bittersweet but also vintage Veronica Mars. Although I’m a little confused about the PCHers — they were a high school motorcycle gang in the original series. And now Weevil’s clearly rolling with adults. Is he the leader again, just like that? What about his family? What does it all mean?!

(Also, Weevil has a hot wife and an adorable daughter! Weevil attends tea parties! WEEVIL, I MISSED YOU!)

10. “I’m not even allowed to have curtains.”

Poor Gia Goodman. I mean, yes: spoiled, self-absorbed and kind of dumb. Complicit in a negligent homicide at the very least. But not an inherently evil person. And after growing up in that creepy house with a pedophile and control-freak mother, it makes me extra sad to think of her spending the next ten years under the thumb of a stalker/rapist/killer. She deserved better than that.

The mystery itself was fine — it did exactly what it was supposed to, which was provide a reason for all of the characters to bounce around each other. It’s a shame Leighton Meester’s schedule couldn’t allow her to reprise her role as Carrie Bishop. It was slightly jarring to see someone else whenever her name came up, and hard to picture her and Logan having a past when it was a stranger’s face. But I did like the use of her and Susan Knight’s friendship (and the call back to Susan’s baby).

Was there anything you didn’t love madly? I deeply regret the choice to put Logan in ill-fitting dress whites when they should clearly have gone with the far more aesthetically pleasing dress blues. Come on, people. This is not rocket science.

I could also have wished for a bit more time to deal with Logan’s reaction to yet another girlfriend’s murder, but there’s only so much you can squeeze into a two hour movie where you’re also playing catch up on nine years of story and pulling in dozens of characters and also leaving time for hot wall sex, you know?

(And hey, maybe that’s what the books will be for?) (Have I mentioned I’m REALLY EXCITED to read The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line? BECAUSE I AM. I look forward to spending the weekend curled up with my copy, which should be waiting for me when I get home.)

So, should I watch this? Um, probably? If you love joy? (But first, you should marathon the entire tv series, because it is awesome and also we’ve just established that you love joy, right?)

Respawn's website for Titanfall introduces a new section explaining what happens to players who are flagged as cheaters. According to the information on the site, if you are flagged as a cheater, you will be banned from normal servers and corralled into a special "cheater's only" category that limits your online play to matchmaking with your own kind.

On the question of "what happens" when you get banned, Respawn offers the following answer:

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Online retailer Newegg.com has officially launched an editorial site this morning called GameCrate. The website will offers consumers visiting Newegg.com a place to read the latest news, reviews, and features related to video game hardware and software, original video content and the latest game-related trailers, live eSports event coverage, and professional advice on the latest hardware and technology.

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In an interview with Game Informer, Oculus VR vice president of product Nate Mitchell expressed his surprise to the publication about the general negative reception it received from fans concerning the acquisition by Facebook earlier this week.

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Diamond Comic Distributors recently informed retailers of the Free Comic Book Day comics they could still add orders to, and of those that had all their numbers filled.

But also that one of the books was going to have to be allocated so that each retailer would only receive a certain percentage of their order.

And it’s one of the more desirable books as well… the new Mouse Guard hardcover from Archaia/Boom.

Oh dear.

Boom’s Filip Sablik told Bleeding Cool,

We did end up having to allocate orders on the Archaia Free Comic Book Day hard cover. In order to make a hard cover viable for FCBD, we had to print overseas and the schedule for FCBD books to arrive at Diamond isn’t really constructed for overseas printing. We ended up having to give the printer an estimate of the number of copies we would need to print, so they could make sure they had enough paper since the quantities were so high. When we had to increase the price on the Archaia FCBD hard cover at FOC, we anticipated the orders would come back equal or less than the initial orders and retailers actually increased their orders resulting in the allocation.

The good news is there will once again be a beautifully produced, terrifically curated Archaia hard cover available at comic shops for FREE on Free Comic Book Day. Although I’d recommend fans get to their local comic shop early to grab their copy.

I’d start sweet talking them now… here’s a look at what’s coming.

Mouse Guard HC Heavily Allocated For Free Comic Book Day

By Christopher Helton

One of the great mysteries of tabletop gaming has had an ending put to it with the reports of the death of former TSR Games artist David Trampier. The iconic artist provided the cover for the first edition of the AD&D Players Handbook, as well as many of the illustrations for the first edition Monster Manual as well. He also provided art for the first edition Deities & Demigods book for AD&D and the first edition of Gamma World in addition to an ongoing comic, Wormy, that appeared in Dragon magazine.

And then one day in 1988, Trampier disappeared. Checks from TSR and Dragon magazine were returned unopened and no one in gaming had contact with him. Reports of mental problems came in from friends and co-workers around the time that Trampier disappeared, and while some would claim that he was still alive no one knew exactly what had happened to him and no one reported being able to contact him.

And then in 2005, Trampier was found again, due to an article in the Carbondale, IL newspaper The Daily Egyptian about a local cab driver. This picture accompanied the article and was used by people who know Trampier from his TSR years to identify him.

After this article, contact was made with him by fans and professionals, but the contact was always short lived as people reported that he was no longer interested in art or tabletop gaming. These were the last publicly recorded contacts until now. The blog of a Carbondale, IL game store reported that Trampier had suffered a stroke and, due to the cab company he was working for shutting down, was once again pursuing art to cover his expenses.

Dave Trampier was 59 years old.

Christopher Helton is a blogger, podcaster and tabletop RPG publisher who talks about games and other forms of geekery at the long-running Dorkland! blog. He is also the co-publisher at the ENnie Award winning Battlefield Press, Inc.  You can find him on Twitter at @dorkland and on G+ at https://plus.google.com/+ChristopherHelton/ where he will talk your ear off about gaming and comics.

Iconic D&D Artist David A. Trampier, 1954-2014

File this under ideas that are so good they make the rest of us regular job applicants look bad: a hopeful ad agency intern has figured out a way to stand out from the pack of other applicants for the job she covets by making a miniature Lego version of herself.

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Every year at CinemaCon the MPAA releases statistics (report here) on the previous year’s moviegoers: What percentage of them can be classified as “frequent moviegoers,” how 3D movies do across various markets, whether the average ticket price has changed. Stuff like that. And, of particular relevance to us, demographic breakdowns. You might have to sit down for this, because it’s shocking: Far more women and racial minorities see movies than there are women and racial minorities in movies. It’s almost like there’s not enough representation or something. I know. So weird.

For this post I’ll cross-reference you to our write-up on the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film’s 2013 study on Hollywood’s (lack of) gender balance. To tl;dr it up a bit, the study found that 30% of the speaking characters in 2013’s top 100 films were female, and only 15% of all main characters were. Taking the female characters as a whole, 73% were caucasian, 14% were African American, 5% were Latina, and 3% were Asian.

That’s not a heck of a lot. But what about people seeing the largely white male worlds depicted in the multiplexes? Turns out that a whopping 52% of the moviegoing public is women. In fact, “Females have comprised a larger share of moviegoers (people who went to a movie at the cinema at least once in the year) consistently since 2009.” That’s right. The majority of people who go to the movies are women, but we’re seeing stories that are about men 85% of the time.

Among the top five top-grossing films of the year—Iron Man 3, Catching Fire, Despicable Me 2, Man of Steel, and Monsters University—Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel were more dude-heavy in terms of their audience breakdown, while women had the majority on the other three. Still, even with of Man of Steel, which had the biggest percentage for any one gender with a 60% male audience, it’s not that much of a difference. There were still tons of women going to see Snyder’s Superman and tons of men going to see Katniss vs The Man 2. I’m going to step out on a limb and say that if studios made more female-starring studio blockbusters, men wouldn’t ruin their box office by staying home for a Michael Bay marathon because ewwww, cooties.

The study also found that Hispanics purchased 25% of the tickets sold in 2013, though they make up only 17% of the population. In addition, 2013 saw the first significant increase in ticket sales to African-Americans since 2009, a fact that MPAA chairman and CEO Chris Dodd and NATO (National Association of Theater Owners, not the other one) chairman/president John Fithian attribute to films like 12 Years a Slave, The Butler, The Best Man Holiday, and Black Nativity. “More movies in 2013 featured more black actors in important roles that drove more patrons to the theaters,” says Fithian. “That’s why we saw substantial growth in moviegoing for African-Americans and other minorities.” Also relevant is the fact that 2013 saw the release of Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish language film of all time.

It’s almost like people want to see stories that reflect their own cultures and lived experiences. And if Hollywood overwhelmingly tells the story of white men, they’re missing out on the opportunity to rake in more money. And they’re, y’know, contributing to institutional racism and sexism, which should be enough to get them to make a conscious effort to increase diversity. Should be. But we know what £anguage Hollywood $peaks.

(via Indiewire, The Hollywood Reporter, image via badahos/Shutterstock)

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dreamsofthejotunprince:

"My beard!"

Today, the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund announced 10 photographers who have been awarded grants to focus on budding crises and underreported issues around the globe, from gang violence in Venezuela to the legacy of segregation in the United States. Journalist Philip Gourevitch, a member of the foundation's editorial committee, describes the grantees' varied body of work: "You might think it would go without saying—but it doesn't—that what sets these photographers apart is that they understand their task with images as Joseph Conrad described his with the written word: 'Before all, to make you see. That—and no more, and it is everything.'"

As a Magnum Foundation partner, Mother Jones will publish a number of these pieces when they are completed. Until then, here's a sampling of the winners' work and the titles and locations of their Magnum-funded projects:

Oscar Castillo: Our War—Our Pain (Venezuela)

 

Allesandro Penso: Refugees in Bulgaria

 

Qingang Chen: Patients at Muli County (China)

 

Edmund Clark: Unseen Spaces of the Global War on Terror (United States)

 

Carolyn Drake: Invisible Bus (United States)

 

Zann Huizhen Huang: Remember Shatila (Lebanon)

 

Kai Löffelbein: Death Metals (Indonesia)

 

Laura Morton: Wild West Tech (San Francisco)

 

Ed Ou: North (Canada)

 

Christian Werner: Depleted Uranium—The Silent Genocide (Kosovo)

The New York City Council introduced legislation Wednesday that would charge customers 10 cents for plastic or paper bags at most city stores.

The fee would apply to grocery stores, bodegas, street vendors selling fruits and vegetables, as well as clothing, drug, and department stores. Shoppers would get a pass on take-out bags at restaurants, prescription bags at pharmacies and bags at liquor stores.

New Yorkers currently throw away 5.2 billion plastic bags per year, which costs the city $10 million a year to transport the waste to landfills. Plastic bags are also guilty of clogging up city storm drains, which exacerbates flooding. Plastic bags have a significant climate impact — in the U.S., plastic bags take about 12 million barrels of oil to produce each year. The bill is aiming for a 90 percent reduction in single-use bags.

This is not the first time such a ban has been proposed. Last August, council member Brad Lander sponsored similar legislation but that measure only garnered the support of eight council members and so never even made it to a vote.

The current proposal, brought by both Lander and Margaret Chin, differs from previous attempts because store owners will keep the proceeds from the bag fee — which changes the measure from a tax to just another product being sold in stores.

The fee on paper bags is being included to encourage changes in consumer behavior. If no bags are free, supporters of the measure, hope customers will learn to bring their own.

CBS New York reported that so far, 19 council members are already behind the measure. 26 are needed to send it to Mayor Bill de Blasio for approval.

Whether or not de Blasio will sign off on the measure, however, is still unclear. Speaking publicly on the issue yesterday, the mayor was at best vague.

“I can tell you the broad principle: plastic bags are a problem. And our goal has to be to reduce the use of plastic bags. There’s a lot of different ways to do that,”said de Blasio. “I’m certainly looking forward to seeing this legislation. But I can tell you, as a societal goal, it’s something we have to work on and we have to work on quickly.”

If New York City does go ahead with the charge, the city will be in good company. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C. have similar measures in place. And the Chicago City Council will vote next month on an ordinance that would ban retailers from using plastic bags. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday, that Emanuel would support the move.

Last year, the mayor rejected an ordinance that limited the ban to retailers with more than 5,000 square feet of floor space. The new measure covers all sized retailers.

The post New York City Disposable Bag Ban Takes A Step Forward appeared first on ThinkProgress.

The towering ten-patty burger we put down last month was only the appetizer for the collaboration menu between Lotteria and Attack on Titan. Their latest offering is a bucket of French fries that would send Sasha Braus into a feeding frenzy, but it set off our appetite for creativity.

Behold, our creation! Flesh sculpted from French fries, sinews carved from ketchup, this starch golem put the fear of God into the schoolgirls sitting at the next table.

The bloody aftermath! Once we started snacking the French fries evaporated like a defeated Titan, leaving behind a greasy death mask.

Each 1600 yen meal comes with a pin and food ticket set. The Survey Corps pin comes with Levi on a zeppin cheeseburger ticket, the Military Police pin comes with Annie on a shrimp burger ticket and the Garrison pin comes with Sasha on a French fry ticket. We went with the Wings of Freedom because there ain't nothin' 'gonna hold us down. Except for the bucket of fries sitting heavy in our stomachs. Where's Sasha when you need her?

The promotion began on March 20th and is available at Lotterias throughout Japan while supplies last--and given how difficult it was to find a store that still had stock, that might not be for much longer!

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Minimal, I say. Those clothes are how very. Hit the jump for two more pics and a poster for the off-Broadway production, which’ll be hitting New York’s New World Stages starting March 31st.

(via Entertainment Weekly, Broadway World)

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Suppose that you live in Vancouver and you drive a car to work. Naturally, you have to get gas regularly. When you stop at the pump, you may see a notice like the one above, explaining that part of the price you're paying is, in effect, due to the cost of carbon. That's because in 2008, the government of British Columbia decided to impose a tax on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, enacting what has been called "the most significant carbon tax in the Western Hemisphere by far."

A carbon tax is just what it sounds like: The BC government levies a fee, currently 30 Canadian dollars, for every metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions resulting from the burning of various fuels, including gasoline, diesel, natural gas, and, of course, coal. That amount is then included in the price you pay at the pump—for gasoline, it's 6.67 cents per liter (about 25 cents per gallon)—or on your home heating bill, or wherever else the tax applies. (Canadian dollars are currently worth about 89 American cents).

If the goal was to reduce global warming pollution, then the BC carbon tax totally works. Since its passage, gasoline use in British Columbia has plummeted, declining seven times as much as might be expected from an equivalent rise in the market price of gas, according to a recent study by two researchers at the University of Ottawa. That's apparently because the tax hasn't just had an economic effect: It has also helped change the culture of energy use in BC. "I think it really increased the awareness about climate change and the need for carbon reduction, just because it was a daily, weekly thing that you saw," says Merran Smith, the head of Clean Energy Canada. "It made climate action real to people."

It also saved many of them a lot of money. Sure, the tax may cost you if you drive your car a great deal, or if you have high home gas heating costs. But it also gives you the opportunity to save a lot of money if you change your habits, for instance by driving less or buying a more fuel-efficient vehicle. That's because the tax is designed to be "revenue neutral"—the money it raises goes right back to citizens in the form of tax breaks. Overall, the tax has brought in some $5 billion in revenue so far, and more than $3 billion has then been returned in the form of business tax cuts, along with over $1 billion in personal tax breaks, and nearly $1 billion in low-income tax credits (to protect those for whom rising fuel costs could mean the greatest economic hardship). According to the BC Ministry of Finance, for individuals who earn up to $122,000, income tax rates in the province are now Canada's lowest.

So what's the downside? Well, there really isn't one for most British Columbians, unless they drive their gas-guzzling cars a lot. (But then, the whole point of taxing carbon is to use market forces to discourage such behavior.) The far bigger downside is for Canadians in other provinces who lack such a sensible policy—and especially for Americans. In the United States, the idea of doing anything about global warming is currently anathema, even though addressing the problem in the way that British Columbia has done would help the environment and could also put money back in many people's pockets. Such is the depth of our dysfunction; but by looking closely at British Columbia, at least we can see that it doesn't have to be that way.

British Columbia's carbon tax was, by all accounts, a surprise at the outset. BC's center-right Liberal Party, which introduced the policy, wasn't exactly known at the time for its strong environmental track record. However, then-Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell was apparently much influenced by the business-friendly environmentalism of California's then-governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Liberals were also very friendly with economists, 70 of whom came out in 2007 with a letter calling for a "revenue-neutral carbon tax." (For a very helpful in-depth history of the BC tax, see here.)

Environmentalists and the business community also chimed in with support, and sure enough, in February 2008, BC Finance Minister Carole Taylor formally introduced the tax. It would be set at an initial low rate of $10 per metric ton of CO₂ equivalent emissions, and scheduled to increase $5 per year until it reached $30 per metric ton (which it did on July 1, 2012). The revenue would go straight back to taxpayers, and all BC residents would get a one-time payment of $100—dubbed a "Climate Action Dividend"—when the policy first launched. There is also a "Climate Action Tax Credit" from the carbon tax, paid to low income persons or families, who currently receive $115.50 for each parent and $34.50 per child annually.

Legislative passage was more or less assured, because the Liberals controlled the provincial government. But shortly after it kicked in, opposition ramped up. After all, the tax took effect in July 2008, just prior to the worst part of the economic collapse. The recession greatly dampened support for climate action, strengthening political claims that reining in emissions would further damage an already deeply wounded economy. Rather surprisingly, BC's left-of-center New Democratic Party, known for championing environmental causes, seized the moment to campaign against the tax, calling instead for a cap-and-trade policy and using the slogan "Axe the Tax." Premier Campbell, though, stood strongly in favor of his party's creation, reportedly insisting, according to the Vancouver Sun, that "if they wanted to get rid of the tax they would have to get rid of him."

Thus, the carbon tax survived an initial trial by fire, and the opposition softened. After all, after a few years with the tax in place (and the resulting tax cuts for BC residents getting larger and larger), any repeal of the policy would amount to a highly unpopular tax increase. "The party that I represent opposed the legislation at the beginning, and we've changed our point of view now to embrace it," says Spencer Chandra Herbert, a British Columbia legislator from the New Democratic Party who is the official opposition voice on environmental issues. "And we're actually raising questions about what's next."

The tax has actually become quite popular. "Polls have shown anywhere from 55 to 65 percent support for the tax," says Stewart Elgie, director of the University of Ottawa's Institute of the Environment. "And it would be hard to find any tax that the majority of people say they like, but the majority of people say they like this tax."

It certainly doesn't hurt that the tax, well, worked. That's clear on at least three fronts: Major reductions in fuel usage in BC, a corresponding decline in greenhouse gas emissions, and the lack of a negative impact on the BC economy.

Quantifying the effects of BC's carbon tax is somewhat complicated by its timing: The 2008-09 economic collapse reduced overall emissions across Canada, and indeed, across the world. Moreover, British Columbia is somewhat of a unique place in that the No. 1 source of electricity is actually carbon-free hydroelectric power, not coal or natural gas.

Therefore, the most likely place for the carbon tax to make an impact would be in sales of carbon-intensive fuels like gasoline and diesel. Sure enough, a recent analysis by Seattle's Sightline Institute shows that BC's sales of motor fuels and other petroleum products declined by 15 percent in just the first four years of the carbon tax, much more than in the country as a whole:

Yet another analysis, by the research and policy group Sustainable Prosperity, finds a similar result: A 17 percent per capita decline in fuel consumption in BC.

Then there are greenhouse gas emissions. Again, comparing BC to the rest of Canada is a little tricky. Elsewhere in the country, the recent shift from coal-fired power plants to natural gas has lowered emissions, but that change has not been felt as much in BC because of its heavy use of hydropower. However, if you centrally look at either emissions from fuel or the sale of fuels subject to the tax (gasoline, diesel, and so on), the Sustainable Prosperity and the Sightline Institute reports broadly agree that there has been a considerable decline relative to the rest of Canada.

What's more, this happened even as BC's economy fared just as well as Canada's economy in general. "BC's fuel use has gone down dramatically, and its economy has kept pace with the rest of Canada at the same time," says the University of Ottawa's Stewart Elgie, a coauthor of the Sustainable Prosperity report.

Overall, then, that's not a bad record for a tax that is just five years old. "What it has done is reduced our carbon emissions, reduced our fuel consumption, and in that period our GDP and our population has gone up," says Clean Energy Canada's Smith. "So it's quite impressive what it has done."

Not everyone would agree, of course; on the national level, Canada's ruling Conservative Party is strongly opposed to a carbon tax. In 2008 (when a national version of the tax was under consideration), the party argued that it would "plunge Canada into a recession."

"Politically, our federal government has tried to make carbon taxation toxic, saying it's a job killer," adds the New Democratic Party's Spencer Chandra Herbert. "BC's experience has proven that it doesn't have to be, and I would argue, it can lead to more jobs."

CANADIANS AREN'T THE ONLY ones who could benefit from emulating BC's policies—so would Americans. Scholarly research suggests that a national carbon tax in the United States could be at least as effective as the BC tax, both in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in lowering income taxes (or, lowering the deficit).

Take, for instance, a recent study from Resources for the Future, a prominent environmental policy think tank, that modeled the economic impact of different carbon taxes. The study found that a very modest $30 per ton carbon tax (roughly equivalent to BC's tax, but in US dollars) would yield about $226 billion in annual revenues. If paid directly back to every American, that would equal a rebate of $876 per year; but of course, this vast sum of money could be used for a variety of purposes, including to greatly reduce the federal deficit.

Meanwhile, the Resources for the Future study found that emissions reductions in the US by the year 2025 would be on the order of 15 percent, and the economic costs would be small: Effects on GDP range from mildly positive to mildly negative depending upon the particular scenario used.

The bottom line, then, is that BC's experience provides an exclamation point at the end of the long list of reasons to like a carbon tax. Perhaps the leading one, in the end, is that it's a far simpler policy option than a cap and trade scheme, and is, as Harvard economist and Bush administration Council of Economic Advisers chair N. Gregory Mankiw has put it, "more effective and less invasive" than the sort of regulatory approaches that the government tends to implement.

Indeed, economists tend to adore carbon taxes. When the IGM forum asked a group of 51 prominent economists whether a carbon tax would be "a less expensive way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions than would be a collection of policies such as 'corporate average fuel economy' requirements for automobiles," assent was extremely high: 90 percent either agreed or strongly agreed. Yale economist Christopher Udry commented, "This is as clear as economics gets; provides incentives to find minimally costly ways to reduce emissions."

"Totally basic economics!" added Stanford's Robert Hall.

Since 2012, British Columbia has not raised the carbon tax further. Instead, the government agreed to freeze the rate as it is for five years. And no wonder: BC is now far ahead of most of its neighbors, and most of North America, in taking action to curtail global warming. Many policy watchers think the BC carbon tax still needs more strengthening, however, to ultimately set in place the kinds of emissions cuts needed. Smith would like revenue from further increases to be used to advance further carbon reductions, rather than for more tax breaks.

In the meantime, another question is whether any other provinces or US states, seeing BC's success, will wade into these waters. For instance, as part of the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy, Washington state and Oregon have both pledged to join BC and California in putting a price on carbon emissions. (California already has a cap-and-trade program). The question is whether these states will decide that the far simpler (and more economically supported) carbon tax is the way to go.

In the meantime, BC can boast of the crown jewel of North American climate policy. "BC now has the lowest fuel use in Canada, the lowest tax rates in Canada, and a pretty healthy economy," says the University of Ottawa's Stewart Elgie. "It works."

The 17th edition of the Holland Animation Film Festival concluded last Sunday in Utrecht, Netherlands. The winners of the top prizes for both feature film and narrative short hailed from South Korea.

Yogashi (洋菓子);  Western-style sweets

Gundam, Eva, Haganai, Haruhi-chan, Kagerou Daze, Tokyo ESP, Log Horizon, High School DxD, Sgt. Frog, Non Non Biyori, Prisma Illya, more