Sithel

moonblossom:

deluxetrashqueen:

Honestly, Rick Rolling is the best practical joke ever. Like, there’s nothing offensive or mean  spirited about it. It’s just like “Oops you thought there would be something else here but it’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.” which isn’t even a bad song. It’s fairly enjoyable to listen to. There’s no jumpscares, no screaming, no ill will. Just Rick Astley telling you he’s never going to give you up. I think that’s great. “You fell into my trap! Here, listen to this completely benign song that will have no negative effect on you.” 

I wish this were true. There’s a really good article about the problems inherent with rickrolling here.

Ukranian crafter Hanna Dovahan makes some pretty fantastic wool objects including animals, arthropods, and food which she sells in her Etsy shop. This avocado love piece is on a slightly higher plane of amazing.

urbnindustrial:

Safari Lodge

madeleinerosca:

Guitar Lessons with the Doof Warrior.

Swiped from www.funnyordie.com

The Wonder Woman movie seems ages away. We know a Black Widow film isn’t happening. So when it comes to female icons carrying a mainstream franchise, what options do we have? Maybe, among the vigilantes with mutant powers dominating the big screen, we need to make room for an inventor yielding a T-Bar and Pixie Dust. You know, Tinker Bell.

Sure, Disney fairies are for kids. But wasn’t that fallen fairy, Maleficent, the most popular Halloween costume last year… for grown ladies?

Disney reinvigorated the world of Peter Pan by spinning off Tinker Bell in a series of animated films, launched in 2008. Tinker Bell (voiced by our girl Mae Whitman) is a tinker fairy, which is a dainty way of calling her a mechanical engineer. She futzes around with found items, inventing contraptions that, after a few failures reiterating the “try and try again” adage, always earn Pixie Hollow a win.

Though her creators describe her as “sweet and sassy,” and her loyalty to her friends is a key trait, eventually you get to the part on Tinker Bell’s official site about how she fixes stuff. Want to get girls into STEM? Get them into Tinker Bell.

While we shouldn’t stop putting our Amazon Warrior on a pedestal, we might fare better celebrating the little guy. She may be able to take cover under a mushroom, but Tink’s feisty spirit and keen grasp of kinematics, thermodynamics, materials science and structural analysis make her someone to look up to.

So why isn’t Disney holding her up as the poster child for a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs? Why aren’t we championing her as one of the few math-and-science role models at a time when there are so few women pursuing STEM careers? Sure, girls can grow up to be whatever they want. But if they don’t SEE it, how do they know to BE it?

Peruse the youth-oriented merchandise associated with Tinker Bell and you find lipgloss, hairbrushes, sleeping bags and dolls cut from the same exact cloth as the Princesses merch. But the fairy lends herself to so much more! Chemistry sets. Rube Goldberg kits. Rocket launchers. If Tink builds it, they will come.

Not that we need to engender STEM-related toys. Though there doesn’t seem to be any going back with Lego “Friends” and Goldieblox on the market, Tinker Bell is an equal opportunity shop steward, with two male cohorts as fellow tinkers. But her BFFs are a cadre of female fairies who function like a band of superhero earth sisters. Disney was smart to expand the fairy universe, where each enchanted character possesses a unique talent that connects them to the environment in an empowering way. Their ultimate goal? To keep nature harmonious, maintaining the balance among the surrounding flora and fauna. Instead of doing battle, Tink is drawing up blueprints.

Disney is squandering an opportunity by not shouting out loud and proud about the virtues of Tinker Bell and her fellow Pixie Hollow fairies. While we’re making progress seeing more female characters being kick-ass by kicking ass, it still feels like we’re always chasing the male narrative, even in female form.

It was just announced that Reese Witherspoon will produce and star in a live action portrayal of the fairy in “Tink.” Finally, the kid gets a theatrical release! While Hollywood figures out the story, let’s campaign for Tink to be given superhero status, and for Disney to come out with a line of tools for kids to construct their own contraptions. And maybe upgrade her building materials to be a little less domestic.

 Imagine what she could put together with the same supplies as Tony Stark, and with a LOT less collateral damage?

The latest film in the animated anthology, Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast, is now available on Netflix.

Liza Wyles is a TV writer/producer raising Padawans in NYC. She blogs about work-life imbalance at Mama Jabber and has been published on such sites as Reductress, The Indie Chicks and The Mid. Her first film was a silent Star Wars sequel, starring her brother as R2D2. You can follow her around on Twitter @LizaWyles.

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

OMG, Shakespeare nerds – get excited! Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender as the titular king and Marion Cotillard as his power-hungry queen premiered at Cannes, and now they’ve released two teensy clips to whet our appetites for more medieval Scottish scheming.

Macbeth’s coronation:

And check out this awesome (if stylistically strange) battle scene:

While I’m sorry we don’t really get to see any quality Lady Macbeth action in these clips, I love the gritty, understated look of the film, and I know Fassbender is gonna kill this part. Macbeth doesn’t have a release date yet, or a distributor for that matter, but it will. Oh, it will.

(via Indiewire)

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

The road trip as a narrative device works so well in cinema because it provides the one thing so many small films lack: direction. Whether looking for meaning in life or cheeseburgers, the characters’ mission statement and journey to find it propels the film’s action forward in even the smallest and seemingly aimless films. Two movies out now in limited release, Güeros and Slow West, demonstrate two very different types of cinematic road trips, with similarly idealistic yet childish men at their centers, following consuming passions on what may ultimately be a foolhardy journeys.

Slow West, the winner of this year’s best world narrative film at Sundance, is a western in the classic, narrative sense, but with a fresh take. The film’s sly, dark wit has a ’70s alternative style, with just enough unexpected twists to keep audiences on their toes. And in the grand tradition on the best westerns, the movie’s cinematic look is breathtaking and intimidating; colorful and varied, the integration of the landscapes (photographed in magnificent scope) with the film’s tone works brilliantly. The darkness of the violent world, in this bright, colorful environment adds to the dark humor, while the landscape suggests that the land is not yet ruled by law.

Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as Jay, a Scottish boy still in his teens who has no business being out in the wildest lands. We first see him wandering through a burned-out Native American camp, immediately confronted by men far more dangerous than he expected. Saved by Silas (Michael Fassbender), Jay accepts his offer to chaperone him on his journey to find the love of his life, Rose (Caren Pistorius), who was forced to flee Scotland after an accidental death. Jay, however, is unaware that Rose has a bounty on her head, and is being pursued by a band of unsavory bounty hunters led by Payne (Ben Mendelsohn)… and Jay is leading them right to her.

Youngsters Smit-McPhee and Pistorius are well-cast as the star-crossed lovers who both seem to physically age on screen simply because of the way they change their body language. Pistorius is a genuine find as survivor Rose (I just hope Hollywood takes note of this latest ass-kicker); and, despite his already impressive career in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Young Ones, Smit-McPhee is finally a convincing leading man with confidence and charisma. Mendelsohn (probably my favorite actor working right now) is having a great time playing up Payne’s swagger in the tradition of Alan Rickman (perhaps he learned from Igby Goes Down). It’s nice to see him playing so many different shades of villain, but after five years, even I’m really ready to see him in some lighter material (rom-com anyone?) before he plays another villain in Rogue One. His band of bounty hunters aren’t exactly fleshed-out characters, but they are all memorable (the good fortune of hiring true character actors), and their scene at the camp fire is one of the best scenes in the movie. The only actor I wished we had a bit more time with is Kalani Queypo, who plays the only speaking Native American character in the film. Although he has great moments, especially with Pistorius, and Queypo is fantastic in his limited screentime, and it sure does feel limited.

But the best performance in the film is easily Michael Fassbender as Silas. Fassbender is a great actor, but it stuck me watching the moving how rare it is to see him playing a character as “easy.” Whether in serious material like Shame or 12 Years a Slave or lighter fare like the X-Men films, he is always so tense. Silas is chill. He smiles and laughs and is charming as hell. And because of that, Fassbender is a blast to watch on screen, making Silas into a loveable anti-hero. I’m completely serious when I say this is probably my favorite performance by Fassbender to date. Perhaps it’s the fact that he’s working with a friend, having already starred in writer/director John Maclean’s short films. Maclean is making his feature debut with Slow West, but you would never know it. He has a clear knowledge of films while bringing a sensibility of his own to the screen. The same is true of Alonso Ruizpalacios, the co-writer/director of Güeros. Like Maclean, there is a sense from the very beginning of the movie that we are in the hands of a filmmaker we can trust, and by the end they prove us right.

Güeros is set in 1999 in Mexico City, during the National University strike out. Roommates Sombra and Santos (Tenoch Huerta Mejia and Leonardo Ortizgris) are unable to go to school because of this strike, and find themselves struggling each day just to find ways to spend their time. Tomas (Sebastian Aguirre), Sombra’s teenage brother, is sent for a visit after getting in trouble, and the brothers plan to find and pay their respects to Epigmenio Cruz, an aging folk-rock hero for whom they have a shared love. Thus begins their road trip throughout the city. Santos joins them, as does Ana (Ilse Salas), Sombra’s girlfriend, who is one of the leaders in the strike.

All three boys are great in the film, with the brothers establishing a real connection on screen, and Ortizgris providing some hilarious comic relief. Salas enters the film with almost an ethereal quality, Sombra is so in love with this extroverted, intelligent, compassionate woman, and Tomas develops his own crush on the dream girl. Like Rose, Ana is definitely a “dream girl” who we see from the perspective of the men who love them; but in this case they love her for her good internal qualities, which makes her seem both identifiable and an exception to the general “pixie” rule. From the minute she appears on screen, photographed in soft focus and floating camera work, you fall in love with her the same way Sombra did and Tomas do.

Ruizpalacios’s cinematography is something to behold, filmed in breathtaking black and white and with a crispness that gives the film a look all its own. The movie has the kind of depth of field we rarely see in 3D films, and he finds enough angles to makes the “ordinary” city seem magical because they are on this kind of youthful journey. The movie incorporates this moment of history well, but always keeps the focus on the inner-relationships of these four (particularly between the brothers), and uses the strike as a backdrop rather than plot. The movie has an easy-going rambling feeling (the trip takes almost 40 minutes to start) but that all feeds the immersive sense of being along for the ride. It is that rare time when young people have the freedom, resources, and ambition to go on an impromptu trip, and its pleasure to be with these four – and despite how ridiculous the goal, you want them to find the elusive hero.

Slow West and Güeros are both refreshingly different from the mainstream big-budget films in the megaplex. And as good as Mad Max is, if you want a break from the explosions, Slow West and Güeros are great ways to chill this summer at the movies.

Lesley Coffin is a New York transplant from the midwest. She is the New York-based writer/podcast editor for Filmoria and film contributor at The Interrobang. When not doing that, she’s writing books on classic Hollywood, including Lew Ayres: Hollywood’s Conscientious Objector and her new book Hitchcock’s Stars: Alfred Hitchcock and the Hollywood Studio System.

–Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.–

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

Want to know what it’s like to go live in the desert for six months and play Soundgarden on a flame-throwing guitar made of bedpans? God bless Vice, now you can.

In an interview that answered all of my burning questions about the flame-shooting, long john-wearing guitarist in Fury Road, Australian actor/performer/painter Sean Hape (he’s previously played Hedwig in live productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show) talked to Vice about what it was like to shred as “Doof Warrior.”

The Andrew W.K. of water wars on how he got the Mad Max gig:

Just through my agency at the time. We knew Mad Max was possibly filming and I was very keen to just do anything to be a part of it. The role just turned up and they asked if I wanted to try it out. Of course I jumped at it. They gave me a brief that the character was somewhere between Keith Richards and a scarecrow.

[…] There were leather pants, there were all these belts I put on and I had feathers on my shoulders and a black leather gimp mask turned backwards on my head. I had my eyes blacked out, brown on my teeth, my nails were blacked. I had chains and jewelry and stuff all over me. I thought I looked the part so I just went, “Hey guys, this is mine, give it to me.” [Laughs]

On set life:

You’d be picked up at three or four in the morning and driven an hour and a half or two hours into the desert, get to base camp, get your kit on, eat breakfast, and then get up onto the truck. They’d strap me in and I’d just sort of be there for eight hours.

Yes, I was up on the truck and we were tearing through the desert and I had bungies on my hips and the guitar had bungies on it as well because it weighs about 60 kilos (132 pounds). It’s impossible to hold up. I wasn’t blind until the mask comes off at the end of the film and I had a prosthetic on for that so I was kind of led around by the hands for a day or two.

[…] In that situation, I don’t think there’s a lot of direction that you need. It’s one of the craziest situations you could ever find yourself in. There’s cars tearing all around you with dust and smoke, it’s very loud. I was just screaming my head off and being kind of like an animal, I guess. The character is supposed to be a really great musician who is a bit mute and a bit deaf, and quite blind. I think of him as sort of a Quasimodo-like character.

[…] the guitar wasn’t… it wasn’t a great guitar. It spent a lot of time out in the desert, you wouldn’t want to record with it. Most of the time, I’d just try to make noise. I pulled out some AC/DC, some Soundgarden, some Zeppelin, but after eight hours, you do just start thumping on it for a while.

Hape told Vice that he’d love to return as Doof for any future Mad Max films, and he might be in luck–Miller has confirmed on the The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith podcast that the follow-up screenplay Mad Max: The Wasteland has already been completed. Miller didn’t explicitly say that Wasteland would feature a post-apocalyptic Riot grrrl band fronted by Furiosa and occasionally backed up by Doof, but here’s hoping.

(via Consequence of Sound and Boing Boing, image via Tumblr)

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

It took me three years, on-and-off, to finish Susanna Clarke’s debut novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Loved the story, hated the fake footnotes. And throughout all that reading I thought, This would make an awesome movie. And best of all, the movie won’t have footnotes. Thankfully, the book is now an upcoming mini-series! Check out this second trailer for the upcoming BBC America adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which focuses on the return of magic to the world.

What do you think about the upcoming Strange/Norrell mini-series?

(via BBC America on YouTube)

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

The folks at R&B Printery were kind enough to send along a link to their free course all about the hand written note. If you're finding yourself stumped and at a loss for words, why not give it a try? Remember to thank them for sharing and check out their letterpress stationery as well.  

San Francisco’s 37th annual Carnaval festival is about the samba its way into the world once more. The two-day event kicks off with a party Thursday night at the Elbo Room, followed on Saturday by a street festival and Sunday’s always epic parade of dancing, music, and costumed-extravagance.

This year’s theme: Agua Sagrada, Spanish for “sacred water,” a reference to the current drought.

Saturday’s festival, which takes over Harrison Street from 16th to 24th Street, has a musical lineup of nearly 20 bands playing across various stages, and includes a performance by Latin Jazz artist and Sheila E.’s father Pete Escovedo with Ray Obiedo. Other performers will be a Jimi Hendrix tribute band, Harold Day and the Experience and Jose Najera and the Bernal Beat.

The parade  on Sunday will start at 9:30 am from 24^th and Bryant St. to 24^th and Mission, then north on Mission towards 17^th and South Van Ness. The festival and parade have seen 400,000 visitors in previous years. But if you don’t want to be in the crowd, you can buy tickets to your own private reserved seating, $30 dollars per ticket.  Otherwise, admission is free.

The one and only Sheila E., best known as artist Prince’s drummer, will be leading the parade as this year’s Parade Grand Marshal. Former parade dignitaries have been actor Benjamin Pratt and his brother Peter Pratt, and San Francisco born actor Danny Glover.

Parking will be restricted along the parade route starting on Friday the 22nd at 7 pm.  Check here before  you park, for a full list of streets that will be towing cars.

Carnaval is traditionally a festival held 40-50 days before Easter as a farewell to bad things and a beginning of a season of religious discipline. Carnaval translates to “to remove meat,” because Catholics traditionally give up meat for Lent.

For a flavor of the flavor to come, check out our video fête:

Events in the Mission Today

The Essential Mission Guide

Hannibal Season 3 will premiere on June 4th with a new series location in Italy, and it seems these atmospheric character portraits have been heavily influenced by the show’s journey abroad. This photo sesh is so moody it makes me me want a Penny Dreadful/Hannibal crossover. Or at least a meet-up between Vanessa and Bedelia.

What do you think, Fannibals?

(via Collider)

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

Cut Video has done it again! In the sixth “100 Years of Hair and Makeup” video, Cut Video and model April Villanueva look at the history of beauty in the Philippines—if you’re a fan of the series, make sure to also check out their time-lapse look at Iranian, Korean, and Mexican fashion.

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

At a Civics Day hosted by the non-profit organization Generation Citizen high school students from John O’Connell High School argued that David Campos’ push for a housing moratorium in the Mission was all wrong. And it won them an award.

The winning students were from a class on economics at John O’Connell.  Along with 17 other classrooms across San Francisco and the East Bay they presented their semester-long work on community issues to a panel of judges that included representatives from Google, Wells Fargo Bank, Chevron Corp., Microsoft, and the San Francisco Education Fund. The event was held at the Women’s Building.

The high school students said they used their knowledge of economics to come up with an affordable housing plan.

“We used things like supply and demand, and elasticity,” said 17-year-old student Aeris Velasco.

The students presented their action plan and emphasized that the root cause of not enough housing was policy and law.  Their goal (through a better understanding of the housing market) was to increase affordable housing.

Their ideas included raising the height limit for housing units in the Mission, pushing for the city to buy abandoned buildings to refurbish into affordable housing on, and to increase the 7% minimum affordable housing requirement for new developments.

John O’Connell High School students presentation on affordable housing in the Mission.

And not to “rat out” David Campos, but Velasco added that when Campos came to their class to speak and they asked him how the moratorium would help with affordable housing, they were not satisfied with his response.

“Time is crucial,” said Velasco, “And a moratorium is just a waste of time, [Campos] said if the moratorium went through, then the plan would come after.” But the students agreed that if the moratorium continued for two years, as his proposal suggested, it would only put them two years behind on a solution to affordable housing.

That was the reasoning, along with their comprehensive plan, that earned the group the “Grassroots Change” award presented by Generation Citizen founder Scott Warren.

Other topics that competed for the award ranged from child homelessness in San Francisco, to sex-trafficking in East Oakland.

Oakland’s Sankofa Middle School’s class chose sex-trafficking because several of the students in the class had personal experiences, and all felt connected to it after learning that the average age for someone entering sex-trafficking was between 12-14 years old.

Robyn Wilkes class said they plan on spending the summer bringing awareness about sex-trafficking in East Oakland, by forming a youth council, and asking local businesses to spread awareness through posters displayed in their business.  Their plan earned them a “Change Maker” award.

“I take the bus down International Ave. to the school, and I’m shocked by what I see,” said Maggie Tober about her experience in Oakland. Tober is a UC Berkeley student, and a Democracy Coach for Generation Citizen and Wilkes’ class.

Sankofa Middle School of Oakland’s presentation on ending sex-trafficking in East Oakland.

But how likely is it that students can make an impact on such broad topics in the course of one semester?

“Certain topics – housing – you can’t fix that in one semester, the city hasn’t been able to fix housing in years,” said Jessica Rojas, Democracy Coach for John O’Connell High School. Rojas said its just about understanding what’s happening. “They know their neighborhood is changing, but they didn’t understand the specifics. Now, they’re looking at it from an economic perspective.”

David Moren, Bay Area Site Director for Generation Citizen said it’s less about the finished product.

“It’s not whether they caught a fish or not, its did they learn how to fish?”

Generation Citizen’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter was formed in 2013, and this is the third Civics Day they’ve hosted.

Scott Warren, and Anna Ninna formed the non-profit while students at Brown University. Warren through his own experience in student organizing wanted to look for ways to get youth civically engaged.

Warren says he hopes that Generation Citizen is a pipeline to other community organizations that students can continue the work they began with them. “We’re the spark.”

Events in the Mission Today

The Essential Mission Guide

Admittedly I’m still salty over the fact that we didn’t get a two-lady-led second season of True Detective, but I think this holds some promise. Plus, I feel like Taylor Kitsch has never really gotten the fame he deserves, and Rachel McAdams looks like she kicks serious ass.

They’ve also uploaded some teasers to their Instagram page, if you want a little extra peek:

A video posted by True Detective (@truedetective) on May 14, 2015 at 10:01am PDT

A video posted by True Detective (@truedetective) on May 14, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

A video posted by True Detective (@truedetective) on May 14, 2015 at 10:02am PDT

A video posted by True Detective (@truedetective) on May 14, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

You’ve watched the trailers. You’ve heard the feminist buzz and the anti-feminist cries. Now let us tell you what we thought about George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.

Shall we get this out of the way first? Is Fury Road feminist? I would have to say yes but it comes with a few caveats I’ll get to later. However, if you’ve liked what you’ve seen so far, I can guarantee you’re going to love seeing the actual film.

[Editor’s Note: There will be a few spoilers in this review, they will be marked as such and covered for those viewing on the website.]

Mad Max: Fury Road is a sight to see. The film does not require any knowledge of the previous three films in the franchise in order to enjoy or understand it but I feel like I should make note of a few things here before we go on.

Things you should know about director George Miller:

• He directed the first two films, Mad Max and Mad Max: Road Warrior, and co-directed the third, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
• He directed The Witches of Eastwick.
• He also directed Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet, and Happy Feet 2.

Things you should know about Mad Max as a series:

• Max is the lonley, troubled warrior-with-a-conscience type.
• Max’s dialogue in the films has always been minimal.
• The films are light on plot but present a lot of big-scale ideas which never really get fleshed out because…
• … there’s no time for that when people want to see car chases and explosions.

And they have every right to want that because Miller is a master of them.

Without a doubt, Charlize Theron is the star of this film. Whether it was Miller’s intent to play switcheroo on viewers (her character’s name is Imperator Furiosa, the subtitle contains the word “fury”) or merely following in the footsteps of the films which came before and making Max the object which starts the wheels of the story turning, this is not Max’s journey. Tom Hardy’s Max is merely a chess piece in apocalyptic chess board. He plays his role well and doesn’t steal the show, doesn’t romance anyone. That’s not his job.

Furiosa’s job is a curious one. She’s a cog in the war machine built by Immortan Joe, a dangerous and devious villain it’s easy to root against, but yet she’s willing to betray him to save a group of women he “owns.” We don’t get to see any of Furiosa’s life before she makes her escape but it’s clear she’s on a larger mission.

While introductions to characters (specifically by name) come swift, if at all, all of them stand out. Collectively known as “The Wives,” the other main characters of the film are Courtney Eaton (Cheedo the Fragile), Zoe Kravitz (Toast the Knowing), Riley Keough (Capable), and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (The Splendid Angharad). Although we barely get to know their history either, each has agency and individual personalities. Yes, they were kept as slave wives by Joe and are dressed in minimal clothing but we do not see them with him before being set free by Furiosa (while leaving strong messages behind for him like “We are not things!”), nor are their bodies presented to the viewer in a sexualized way. They’re not bending over the hoods of cars, they’re fighting for their freedom and lives.

There are two times the film goes into uncomfortable territory regarding their female characters [SPOILERS] — [END SPOILERS]

If I was going to fault the film for anything it wouldn’t be its treatment of women, which was far above and beyond most Hollywood action fare — getting them in on the action and all, but that it piqued my interest for so many other things I’ll never see explored. Yes, you absolutely get what it says on the tin — explosive rocket guitars and roaring engines of doom — but that doesn’t mean I can’t want even more from an action film. Fury Road could be a five hour epic and I’d still watch it and watch it again. And again and again. Part of me wishes it really was that length considering how much doesn’t get the chance to be fleshed out. There is a great deal to pull from; from the random Skeksis-like humans and willing-to-die War Boys to the Milking Mother and the Green Place. But that’s not Mad Max’s bag and that’s ok.

People flying through the air, explosions, and growling cars on the other hand, are Mad Max’s bag. And what comes out of that bag is glorious to behold.

Miller says “I think of action movies as a kind of visual music, and Fury Road is somewhere between a wild rock concert and an opera,” and I couldn’t agree more. Watching the action scenes of Fury Road had me literally on the edge of my seat. Hardy said of the production, “If you think a stunt is too extreme, or an explosion too spectacular, I promise you that it was there… I saw it.” You’ll have trouble believing you saw it too but Fury Road has some truly spectacular practical effects and stunt work which will leave your mouth hanging wide open.

If I hadn’t read about Eve Ensler consulting on set or heard about some men upset over Hardy’s secondary role in the film, I probably wouldn’t have remarked on the feminist aspects of the film specifically. I absolutely would have raved about how the film didn’t actively offend me as a woman, which is the very base of what I hope for when ingesting a piece of media. But Fury Road exceeded those base expectations by giving me interesting female characters who were on an even playing field. And yes, there are more than what you’ve seen in the trailers.

Should you see Mad Max: Fury Road in theaters? Only if you like to have fun.

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

The trailer for the Jem and the Holograms movie is out there in the world, and the response on social media is pretty damning. Rightfully so. This film presents us little more than yet another anemic tale of Girl Bands Gone Mild and completely misses the point of what made Jem so significant in the first place.

By eradicating everything about the Jem backstory from this adaptation, the film takes a story of female empowerment and turns it into yet another pop-diva-corrupted-by-fame narrative, and we have plenty of those. What we want, what we need, is what Jem and the Holograms offered: Jerrica Benton, the main character, is a philanthropist who runs Starlight House to foster young girls as well as a successful business woman who wrestled her father’s record label from the evil machinations of her adversary Eric Raymond. She becomes the alter ego Jem through the use of Synergy, an audio-visual synthesizer developed by her father, whose avatar was based on Benton’s mother. What initially began as a marketing ploy to sell Hasbro dolls became one of the most girl-positive, complicated narratives of the 1980s.

The trailer for the Jon M. Chu film suggests that perhaps all of that girl power was just a little too complicated, and instead gives us the story of an orphaned teen uploading her tunes onto YouTube and then – wait for it – becoming a star. Throw in some discarded ideas from Hannah Montana and the Josie and the Pussycats film and… there we are. So when the girls exclaim “The biggest record company in the world wants to sign us!” we lose sight of the fact that Starlight was the biggest record company in the world, and Jerrica owned it. When Eric Raymond tried to control Jerrica, she fired him. He then created a badass trio called The Misfits who exemplified the punk ethos as well as what it means to be a cutthroat woman who stops at nothing to succeed – yet time and again, it is the Holograms who come out on top, proving that the organic team of musicians working together and staying true to themselves will always be more true, appealing and real than the constructed artifice of a slick marketing ploy.

Oh, the irony.

It beggars belief that such an original idea as Jem could be watered down into such a flavourless rehash. Not even The Misfits make an appearance, and yet Juliette Lewis, who is Pizzazz incarnate, appears as the Svengali who remakes the band into a marketable product. Again: the irony.

When Lewis’s character says, “You are no longer Jerrica… Jem! That’s what we call you now,” both Jerricas lose their agency: becoming Jem in the series was Jerrica’s decision to make, not a marketing decision imposed upon her. Her transition to Jem was clearly marked as a persona with the phrase “Showtime, Synergy”. She decided when she would change, and change back. And the conflicts arising from her persona were not another round of beating the tired drum of ‘when women become successful, they betray themselves, their friends, family, and all they stand for’ but instead an existential exploration of identity… and admittedly, a rather unfair (and unbelievable) conflict of betrayal brought on by Jerrica herself by not being honest about her persona to Rio, her boyfriend and the band’s road manager.

But these were Jerrica’s conflicts of career choice: do I want to be the businesswoman or the star? And how Jerrica achieves success in both of these lines of work rests on how she embraces her father’s ahead-of-its-time multimedia technology, which she manipulates effortlessly into an innovative, immersive experience of sight and sound. Jerrica is a goddamn wunderkind.

And the issue with Rio was a reflection of these career options, and the roles women thought they had to take by choosing one or the other – the underlying message being, however, that women could do it all, have it all, because there was Jerrica, doing it all, having it all, and the dramatic irony was that if she were honest with Rio, she would see that. These conflicts were fairly complex for a children’s TV show, but if they were strong enough to make the marketing strategy work for Hasbro, why were they not strong enough for Universal Pictures? Particularly when a good proportion of the audience was built in and expected this?

Near the end of the trailer, Lewis can be heard in voiceover saying “an icon is not one of four, it’s one of a kind” – really? Tell that to the Beatles. When will we finally have the male version of this story, when the singer is segregated from the band and made a ‘star’, friendships break, tears are shed, success corrupts, be ye warned, pop princesses? Oh wait, that never happens. Male musicians are artists; female musicians are a commodity and a family. They must be held to a completely different standard, as though this is just another way of informing women that no, you cannot ‘have it all’. Jem and the Holograms subverted this narrative in the 1980s, in part because Jerrica built a family of blood, of friends, and of foster children; she managed to take on two careers simultaneously in addition to her family responsibilities, and she did this on her own. When her band became successful, it was a band, and this is evident in the videos and the story lines. Sure, maybe it was to maximize sales, to ensure all the dolls on offer were bought. But it also sent the message that Jem and the Holograms was a collaborative effort, there was no one breakout star, each woman in the band – and again, note that these were women of color, as well – were presented as equals, working together. This is what made Jem and the Holograms so great, and what is truly, truly, truly outrageous is that in 2015, none of this made it into a long-awaited big screen adaptation.

Cat Conway is originally from Chicago but lives in London. She is a poet, a journalist, an academic and an inner-city English teacher. She also makes a highly regarded peanut butter chip peanut butter cookie. You may follow her intermittent feminist ranting and retweets at @mllekitty.

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

We already had a feeling the Guillermo del Toro directed film, starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver, would be scary but this kicks it up a notch.

And here’s a poster and some new stills from the film.

[View All on One Page]

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

If there’s a hill I intend to die on as a feminist blogger, it’s the sturdy knoll of Channing “I’m-just-rocking-pensively-on-this-beach-swing-and-waiting-for-you to-join-me” Tatum’s titular XXL parts and my right to celebrate them.

The Magic Mike franchise subverts the male gaze in a way we don’t often see in movies, and considering XXL‘s cast (Andie MacDowell? Jada Pinkett Smith?!) I’m going to defend my right to hype this movie and its near-Shakespearean commitment to dick jokes as long as my body has breath.

Boner bonus: here’s an official poster of Channing Tatum doing some sort of sexy grapevining Asterix and Obelix pose!

Assuming this move is just anarchy from the waist down.

(via ScreenRant)

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

phobso:

Today is Walpurgis Night - I had to draw a witch

chipmunktheseaotter:

soyouthinkmyeyesarefine:

arianaofnyx:

bookkeeperamanda:

angelicartisan:

absolutedevotion-artist:

My latest Creation fully hand carved leather by Rebecca Hedges of Absolute Devotion. :) 6 months of hard work. :)

See more on my Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Absolute-Devotion/10099221406

Should I ever attempt corsets, I’d love them to be as awesome as this! *_*

arianaofnyx

So many new projects to start!!

graveglamour

This is absolutely gorgeous!

Scarlett Johansson by Mary Ellen Matthews for SNL, May 2015.

i-come-by-it-honestly:

Mallory Ortberg on fire on twitter today (as usual).

photo via 38beem

Restaurants and cooks at homes in Japan are serving curry rice in a functional and eye-catching way: by building a wall of rice that acts as a dam holding back curry sauce. Not only does the architectural fare look adorable, but it keeps sauce from getting all over the plate and mixing into other foods.

photo via 38beem

photo via 38beem

photo via tsuna_wo

photo via xxxa101

???????? ?????????(???????) pic.twitter.com/JymqJHdtSG

— ??????????? (@dam_namasu) March 26, 2015

via Naver Matome, RocketNews24

Don't appeal to sympathy.

To wit, "I have been working on this for three days."

The time you spend on a problem is an indirect measure of value, and may very well be inaccurate. By 'three days' you may mean you have been up for 72 hours doing absolutely nothing else - but probably not. So the measurement is vague to begin with and meant only to inspire sympathy: essentially tricking them into wanting to help you. This sort of 'borrowing of goodwill' is inevitably problematic.

Worse, you open yourself up to potentially bad interactions as a result.

"Oh, the solution is x."

An immediate response can explicitly or implicitly question your competency: any amount of time you spent beyond 'almost nothing' can too easily be assumed to be wasted. Is it a good idea to put that person in a position to insult your ego, or damage your reputation? Focusing the request on your own effort (rather than your own result) puts that person in exactly that position.

More importantly, the time you spent on (not solving) a problem is irrelevant: the direct measure of value is how much you know about the problem. Focus on presenting that and only that. Can you succinctly present the problem where the person can answer it, quickly, without needing additional information? If they do require additional information, can you provide it? Can you elide the time it took you to understand the problem for the other person? If so, you're contributing to getting the problem solved. And if not, you're simply asking for someone else to do it for you, and to exacerbate it you're wasting time by adding in information (such as how long you worked on it) that doesn't actually contribute to the solving of the problem.

To underscore this, consider what happens if your car breaks down. You can call a friend and ask, "Can you come to x and y intersection and pick me up?" or you can regale them with the storied history of your car, and your particularly busy schedule that prevented you from doing the necessary maintanance to avoid the problem - or whatever the case is. None of that helps them determine whether or not they can come pick you up: it might help them decide to loan you money (or not) for a new car, but is that your actual problem? Your problem is that you're at x and y street and need to be at m and n avenue.

There are, of course, many ways to appeal to sympathy (I just consider the time-based appeal the most insidious). Don't use any of them. Keep your focus on moving forward, from where you are now. Reflect on how you arrived there later, and if you find a problem, address that as it's own problem, not a necessary antecedent to some other problem.

By contributing to the solution (providing relevant information) without detracting from it (providing irrelevant information) you can honor the time you're asking of someone else, in particular because you are not asking them to repeat your work. People appreciate this, naturally, but it provides you an even better opportunity: to pose the problem as something exciting you want help with rather than as a burden to you that you need help with. At the end of the day which sort of person do you want to be known as?