Trash Talk Tuesday: Review of The House of the Scorpion

"Very dark indeed is his majesty when he wants to be. 

When he was young he made a choice, 

like a tree does when it decides to grow one way or the other. 

He grew large and green until he shadowed over the whole forest, 

but most of his branches are twisted."

-Nancy Farmer, The House of the Scorpion

There are some children's books that I read and my brain screams "How is this for children!?" Some people argue that children aren't capable of grasping the concept they are reading. I don't agree with that. I believe that children understand the horrors and sadness they are reading/watching/hearing but they don't have the words yet to explain their grief. I thought about this a lot throughout the course of reading Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion.

I wish I had read this book as a child. It is a shocking and intense introduction to science fiction. I wanted to cry so many times throughout reading it. 

My only "trash talk" about this book is that I wouldn't call it feminist. The women were mostly bad mothers because they cared about political issues or evil or cute little girls who want to save kittens. Only Celia was a feminist character but even that could be argued. 

This was a great coming of age novel that dealt with too much for one child. Which is why I wanted to cry so often. I suggest this book for people who love science fiction and children's stories. You should also read it if you want to read a story about a character of color. 

The House of the Scorpion is about science, corruption, power, and what it means to be human. Strangely, it is both a celebration of the will to live and the acceptance of death. My overall score would be a 3.5.

Manic Monday: The Good Wife Season 4 Finale

 Spoiler Alert: Continue reading at your own risk.

Words to describe how I feel about the season finale of The Good Wife: oh. my. god. Alicia.

Alicia always surprises me. I knew she couldn't stay at the firm forever, but I didn't think the season would end with it. The writers led me to believe it was Will she invited over to her apartment, not Cary! 

Jackie surprised me in this episode as well. In general, I find her to be a bitter old woman who lives by making decisions for the people around her. But in this episode, she finally made a decision that though was controlling of her son, was also controlling of her own life. A life she really had seemed to lost control of. 

The least surprising person in this episode? Peter. Of course. Way to be an asshole, Peter. He left the fate of his election in the hands of the man who loves his wife. He knew that Will wouldn't hurt Alicia that way. As much as Will wants Alicia, he wouldn't hurt her by showing her the lengths Peter was willing to go to to win. Peter took advantage of that. Let's see what Kalinda does with this knowledge. 

Overall, amazing season finale. It spoke very much to the changes that underwent during the course of this season and is the beginning of a glorious new season.

Feminist Friday: Naked Women in Video Games

"What's an appropriate way to ask about all the boobs?"

- Emily McGreevy

I'm not what one would call a "gamer" but I enjoy video games, and I love them as a new medium for story telling. What I don't love is the need for women to constantly be naked and large-breasted in the games.

Over the weekend I went to an art school in LA to meet the concept artists for the game God of War: Ascension. My boyfriend loves the God of War games, and in preparation for GOW:A which came out in March I sat through (sometimes slept through) his replaying of all the games. All the women are naked. Nipples out and everything. There is one sex scene in every game where the sex you have gives you experience or health points. That's ridiculous as much as it's hilarious. In the gallery of the art show there was one painting showing the progression of a character, and in each she just gets more and more naked. Its like the art director was like "Maybe show a little more boob in the next version." 

I asked one of the character artists about the use of boob, and his response was along the lines of:  "We just draw the character and leave that space open." I think the games are awesome, but something about the need to show nipple bothers me. 

Soon after my boyfriend posted this article The Real Problem With That Controversial Sexy Video Game Sorceress to one of our best friends, with whom we talk about this subject often. It got me thinking about the subject even more. This woman's breasts look like they each have their own heart beat as she moves! 

What do you think? Am I a crazy straw feminist for being bothered or should the video game industry evaluate its boob usage?

Throwback Thursday: Poetry Time

After my sad day post about my lack of confidence, I remembered that I once did have the confidence to post a poem I wrote. So here's a throwback to my old blog: Tangled in my Mind and my post on February 3rd, 2012:

Outside

In one moment our friendship was lost

Like the dog on the sign taped to that streetlight

My boyfriend is drunkenly petting a stray cat on the lawn

Your boyfriend is next to me saying you didn’t mean it

You snarled and snapped and stomped back into the house

the house where everyone else drinks and laughs

The house where I should be instead on this concrete curb,

My hands cupping my face
and your boyfriend, not mine

Attempting to bring me inside

Your boyfriend laughs when I tell him there’s nothing left to fix

Writing Wednesday: Why I'll Never Get Published

"You think you’re all strong and silent, bro, 

but you’re a book with its spine cracked open

 and its pages falling free."

- Martin Amis, House of Meetings

For a few job interviews I've had recently, I've been asked about my long term goals and I've been telling them that I want to be published. And that is so sadly true, that my goal is to publish at least one book. Why is my goal not larger? Because I have come to realization that if I'm so afraid of even letting my friends and family read my work than how am I going to let an editor or publisher read it? 

I really need to get better about my confidence in my writing. But its hard when I know people who write so terribly and post their so-called poetry all the time. They post it on Tumblr with typos. How can I compete when my competitors are confident enough to post poetry on the internet that has TYPOS? 

So maybe I will never have the confidence in my writing to become a published author, but at least I won't post poetry with a misspelled title?

To anyone who reads this blog, how do you find the confidence to do the things you love?

Trash Talk Tuesday: Watchmen and Philosophy

"All we ever see of stars are their old photographs."

- Dr. Manhattan, Watchmen

 

Over the summer between my sophomore year and junior year of college I took a Graphic Novel class (perks of being a Creative Writing major), and one of the comics we read was Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen and it blew my mind. I then watched the movie, and was intrigued but as usual disappointed by changes made in the adaption from book to movie. 

I also discussed the comic with several people, including my class. I was struck to find that not everyone loved Dr. Manhattan. He is my favorite character, and probably my favorite superhero. Quickly, I was taught about the theory that of the characters in Watchmen whichever one you side with, or call your favorite states a lot about your personality and outlook on life. I was told to read Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test edited by Mark D. White. I finally read it, and while reading it I also re-read the comic and then upon completion re-watched the movie. 

Review of Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test edited by Mark D. White:

Genius and thought provoking. I drunkenly talked about the philosophy of being stoic for hours (apparently). At first I felt as though the articles were hating on Dr.Manhattan but that changed. I wish women in relation to the comic were discussed more, there is a lot to say about both Silk Spectre's. But the philosophy was easy to understand and it gave my brain an exhausting but exciting run. I loved it. I love Alan Moore as well, and I hope to read more of his work. In response to one of the articles I have this to say: Watchmen IS literature. How is that a question?

Best articles:

J. Keeping, Superheroes and Supermen: Finding Nietzche's Ubermensch in Watchmen

Christopher M. Drohan, A Timely Encounter: Dr. Manhattan and Henri Bergson

Andrew Terjesen, I'm Just a Puppet Who Can See the Strings: Dr. Manhattan as a Stoic Sage

 Sarah Donovan and Nick Richardson, Watchwomen

For the movie, I have this to say:

Zack Snyder or whoever had the decision making power to do so, ruined the ending. I did not like or approve of the change. BUT: The music of the film was genius. If the comic could have music in it, then it would be pure perfection. The scene of Bob Dylan's Times They Are a-Changin' was an inventive way of showing the influence the Minutemen had on history, and the way we see the world today. And Adrian Vedit saying "War is obsolete" with the Twin Towers in the background was intense for anyone who was in America on 9/11.  

 I would give this book a 4.5, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' a 5, and the movie I would give a 3.5. 

Now what should I read next?

Mad Monday: Finally Caught up on Mad Men

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love Sally Draper. In many ways, Sally is the most likeable character on the show. This point was proven to me by catching up on the beginning of this current season. And after doing so, I have several questions for the writers.

1. What are you doing to Joan? She is better than this.
2. Does Don only marry women that are annoying enough to give him an excuse to cheat on them?
3. Why is Ted such a creep and why doesn't Peggy get creeped out by him?
4. Is there a reason Linda Cardellini needs to look like Betty Boop?
5. How is it possible that Pete's wife is only being a badass now?
6. Why is Harry Crane being such a dick?
7. Can Sally be on the show more often?

Putting my judgements of the show in question form makes me like less of a sneetch. Judgements aside, I'm quite curious and excited about the direction the show is taking.

Feminist Friday: The Lawyer Was a Sneetch.

 "You all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores.

 It just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores."

-Tina Fey in Mean Girls

For four days, I was on a jury thanks to the USA Judicial System. I tried so hard to imagine the female defense attorney as Alicia from The Good Wife but she was a Sneetch and not like Alicia at all. The way her nose was upturned when she was questioning made me imagine her as one of Dr, Seuss' yellow creatures.

This made me decide the term "sneetch" is going to be my way of saying "bitch" without having to continue the abuse that word creates. A sneetch can also refer to a male, and the term bitch normally does not. Sneetch is now my new way of describing the bitchiness that comes from a person being snotty and judgmental like the damn lawyer. 

Too bad she won...

Throwback Thursday: Two Weeks in Ireland

"If you're not drunk and half naked by this point, 

you aren't paying attention." 

- Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

 Over the summer, my family went to Ireland. My father is 100% and my mom is mostly Irish with a little bit of Italian. I like to pretend I'm 100% like my dad.

 

The photo above is a view of Dublin from the Guinness factory tasting room.

 Ireland was beautiful. The weather was what I expected. There was mostly rain but also a lot of sunshine. We drove for hours at a time so when I got sick of seeing sheep and rolling green hills, (and over a period of two weeks, the sheep were boring) I read a lot. I read Let it Snow which is three connected short stories by different authors, and I read Chuck Palahniuk's novel Diary.

So much drinking. Guinness was amazing at the factory.

Story #1: The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson, a review as quoted from my journal: 

"It was cute but no John Green story (who is next). My feminist side of my brain hated it. It was a girl with a crappy perfect boyfriend who feels confident when his around just because they are dating. She meets a boy, who helps her realize how awful his perfect ass is so she dumps him and makes out with the boy. I would have liked it better if she left his house, moved on from the shitty BF but did't fall for the new boy but that's just me."

    

Story #2: John Green's A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle, a review as quoted from my journal: 

"Before I say anything else, I want to say how I loved that these three stories connect in little ways. It is cute. So far the two were different stories but they intertwined in a slight way. Over a location- a waffle house with cheerleaders. 

John Green was better about feminism than the other story though mostly due to it being a male narrator. We didn't get the girl fawning over a boy inner monologue. I think when I write my young adult novels/stories I'm going to not be in 1st person to avoid this issue.

But I predicted the underlying conflict of the romance too quickly and easily. It was disappointing in that respect."    

 

 Story #3: The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle, as reviewed in my journal:

" It was the same as the others. Cute but not feminist at all.. A girl upset over a boy. It would have been less predictable if it wasn't connected to the other stories but I basically knew the ending from the first two short stories. Oh, well." 

So I think in July 2012, I would have given Let it Snow a 2. 

 

 

Harry Potter was filmed here!

Review of Diary by Chuck Palahniuk as quoted from my journal: 

"Just finished Diary and it was weird. Creepy even, and confusing. Those are its 3 words: weird, creepy, and confusing. I think I enjoyed it. It didn't blow my mind like Rant, Haunted, or Fight Club did. But it has a similar feeling. A feeling that creeps over and makes everything you used to find normal seem wrong. I guess that is what makes a good book. It changes how you look at life even when the book's story wasn't about that." 

I think I would have given Diary a 3. 

I loved Ireland, and I wish I could go back. But maybe with less family.  

Writing Wednesday: Writing feminist children's books

To get news from a source other than Facebook, I often look at the website for Bitch Magazine. After reading these two articles: How do you find feminist children's books? and "Mad Men" actresses reluctant to call Peggy and Joan "feminists" I have this to say: we need to stop allowing feminism to be a bad word.

I'm sorry but from my view of feminism Peggy and Joan ARE feminist. And what the hell is wrong with that? The association that this means they hate men, and they don't shave their legs? That's not feminism exactly. I find feminism to be about equality, and Peggy and Joan prove and fight to be seen as equal in the workplace and in the home. I don't think feminists hate women who want to be mothers either. It is about the choice to do so, rather than an obligation.

As a writer, I want to combat this problem by writing for younger audiences with a feminist intent. My hope is to write YA novels, and children's book that are about being yourself and having the choice to live life the way you want. Not the way society tells you are supposed to live your life.

Interestingly enough, a short story I wrote for children has a main character named Peggy. I started writing it before I new anything about Mad Men other than it being a show about the 1960s.

Now my question to the blog world:
What do you believe 'feminist' means?
Have you read any books for children you find to be 'feminist'?

Trash Talk Tuesday: Taylor Swift isn't my favorite.

Spoilers! Watch at your own risk.

I hate Taylor Swift a little bit. I love Breaking Bad. After seeing this video a few months ago I fell in love with this one TSwift song. Genius parody.

Moody Monday: Jury Duty makes me grumpy

“You could have just propped me up 

on the table like a mannequin or a cardboard stand up 

and paint me any face that you wanted me to be seen with” 

- Ben Folds and Regina Spektor: You don't know me 

Well, I have jury duty. I can't tell you anything about it other than I hate most of humanity. Can you tell that I'm grumpy about being picked? I'm behind in TV and in my blogging plan. But that's okay? I'm doing my civic duty or some shit. 

If anyone cares here is an interesting article about bras and tits: Are you ready to unleash your ta-tas? And here is my friend's Kate blog entry about last week's episode of The Good Wife: The Good Wife is actually a comedy. 

TV shows I watch airing this week: 

Sunday: The Good Wife

Monday: How I Met Your Mother

Tuesday: none.

Wednesday: none

Thursday: The Vampire Diaries  

Feminist Friday: Sally Draper is my hero

"You have big ones. My mommy has big ones too. 

And I'm going to have big ones when I grow up."

-Sally Draper, Mad Men Season 2

I haven't started the new season of Mad Men so no spoilers, please!

If anyone asks, (and no one does) I would say Sally Draper is my favorite character. I feel a personal kinship with her because she reminds me of myself, and Betty reminds me of my mom. The relationship between Betty and Sally is too similar to mine with my mother. It almost creeps me out.

From my understanding, (I only started watching Mad Men recently) this show isn't seen as being completely feminist. My boyfriend thought I wouldn't like it because of the comments that are made and the way the women are treated. He pretty much said that only Peggy Olson is seen as feminist on the show. I find this to be completely wrong. For the most part, all the women stand up for themselves, they treat each other with respect, and they do what they can with what they have. I recommend this show to women who want feminism to be about respect and equality, but not to women who think of feminists as being women who hate men.

My love of Sally, and my decision that she is ultimately my hero came from the ending of Season 5. Sally tries to go on a date, but gets her period for the first time so she ends up running home. The look on her face made me want to cry and laugh at the same time. I was so worried about her. I loved that she just went home. Betty proved me wrong for a moment, she held her daughter and spoke to her about her period like Sally was an adult. She didn't shame Sally, or make Sally feel embarassed about it (and that's more than my own mother can say about my first period). In that moment of Betty consoling Sally about her fear and worry about becoming a woman I saw Betty as a good mother. But then Betty turned it around to prove that she is a good mother to Megan, with whom Betty is having a one-sided competition.

Sally became a woman, and the writers of Mad Men told us in a way that I found inspirational as a writer and as a woman.

Throwback Thursday: Hold on to your butts.

"Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth."

-Dr. Ellie Sattler, Jurassic Park

Nothing more accurately captures my love but laughter at Jurassic Park than the video above. Though I seriously judge the need to make movies all be in 3D, I saw Jurassic Park on April 5th. I found the 3D to be well done, and it was a great excuse to allow the film to be on the big screen once again. The more "scary" scenes were better on the bigger screen, and I loved hearing John Williams' music in surround sound. This was also my first time watching the movie since I read the novel  by Michael Crichton for the first time. I had never realized that he had a hand in writing the screenplay! 

I would say it is only worth going to seen in 3D if you already love the film. If you love Jurassic Park including all of its ridiculousness, you will love seeing it bigger and louder. 

In a future Throwback Thursday post I plan to update my review of the book, look for that in the coming weeks!  

The next movie I plan to see in theaters? 

Iron Man 3

Writing Wednesday: The obligation to write non-white characters

 “In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.” 

-Toni Morrison

This is a touchy subject, but one that has been brought up a lot throughout my writing classes, and even in conversations with friends. I was reminded of this subject, once again, after reading the article: Young Adult Books Too Often Present a World Without People of Color from Bitch Magazine the other day. I agree completely that we too often have to read books about white characters without any mention of people of color, and that if there are characters of color they are read as white rather than as the ethnicity the author intended. Anyone else remember the racist posts on Twitter about The Hunger Games film? Oh, how I wish those were some terrible joke.

Is the problem with the writer? Or is the problem with what is published? Or is the problem the readers? I find the problem to be all three.

What is a white author's obligation to write non-white characters? Having spoken to several professors about it, the obligation seem to come simply from being a writer. You don't only write about your boring life. You write about other experiences, other worlds, other timelines. Why not write about someone who doesn't look like you? The moment this idea really hit home for me was when a professor asked, "You don't worry about a man telling you don't understand the experience of the male you are writing, do you?"

As a writer, I find the problem to be choosing the right words.There is no way to please everyone, but in matters of race and ethnicity I feel as though there is no winning with anyone. Either I blatantly describe my character as Hispanic and someone tells that I know nothing about the experience of a Hispanic person, so I'm a bad writer. Or, I subtly have my character speak Spanish or have a Hispanic name and someone still reads the character as white, so I'm a bad writer. This problem usually causes me to stick with names I deem to be "American" and let people imagine them as anything. But we live in a culture that has raised us to read all characters as white unless told otherwise. We need to rectify that problem.

In the end, no one has an "obligation" to write characters into their novels that aren't white. But do you really know no one of another ethnicity? Are you too scared to write about "them"? My biggest question to the people who publish books that are only about white people is WHY? There are plenty of writers in the world who are better writers with better ideas who aren't afraid. Go find some better writers and publish them. The world will thank you for it.

Recommended reading:
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Trash Talk Tuesday: More than a love story

"You gotta pay attention to signs. 

When life reaches out with a moment like this,

it's a sin if you don't reach back..." 

- The Silver Linings Playbook, Matthew Quick

 I was sold when the trailer for the movie version of this book featured Bradley Cooper throwing A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway out of a window. He was so upset by the outcome of the novel, that I laughed even though the ending to that same book made me cry hysterically. 

The movie version of the book was great, and after reading the novel almost all of my internal writing critic questions and judgements of the film were resolved. Being an avid lover of both film and novels I always pay attention to the differences and likenesses made in the process of adapting a book into a film. In general, the biggest change for The Silver Linings Playbook is that the novel is not a love story. It is a man overcoming and facing his mental illness and what led him into a mental breakdown. His breakdown has to do with love, and his ability to "move-on" from the breakdown has to do with love but it is not Tiffany (played by Jennifer Lawerence in the film) who solves the problem. It is not falling in love that saves Pat Peoples. In the movie, the problems of his past relationship is basically healed with a new one. But that's not the case in the novel, and I really appreciated that change. There is something that annoys me about that mindset, its like giving yourself an injury to distract yourself from an injury. 

My rating of Quick's The Silver Linings Playbooks would be a 3.5. I don't believe an English teacher would want to teach a class on the novel but overall I'm not embarrassed to mention my having read the novel to a professor. Feel free to argue my rating if you have read the book yourself. My reviews are completely my opinion, and I do not see myself as "all-knowing" in the realm of rating books, movies, or television. 

If you haven't read the book but you enjoyed the movie, then READ THE BOOK. 

Currently reading: Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test edited by Mark D. White
and Watchmen by Alan Moore

Manic Monday: Why I will never approve of Ted Mosby's wife

"All that is 45 days away. But I’m here now, I guess, because I want those extra 45 days with you. 

I want each one of them. If I can’t have them, 

I’ll take the 45 seconds before your boyfriend shows up and punches me in the face, 

because I love you."

- Ted Mosby, How I Met Your Mother Season 8 Episode 20

 

 For some reason, I didn't watch How I Met Your Mother from the beginning. I started it only after a bunch of my friends told me how amazing it was and how I just HAD to watch. They would say "had" like I would stabbed if I didn't. Or at least, one friend did. But I think she just wanted to stab me (needless to say, we aren't friends anymore). So instead of telling my friends I started the series, risk the chance of not liking it and being stabbed I watched in secret (thank you channel 131). Eventually, I told my boyfriend, but only after I fell in love with the show. 

Am I still in love with the show? I'm not so sure. The last episode was slightly stupid, and mostly reminded me of Ted's need for a therapist. I just want to scream at the television saying, "You don't need a woman to be happy!" But I'm in a happy relationship, so how I can really tell him or anyone that? I still love the show, but it needs to end. 

I can't imagine being one of the people who has kept with it since the beginning. The ongoing relationship failures of Ted Mosby make it unbelievable to me that he will ever have a successful relationship. The standards he holds and the image in his head of what his woman SHOULD be just doesn't exist. We get little pieces of knowledge about the mother but those only make her more unrealistic to me. How unrealistic the mother has been built up to be is shocking because of how realistic and well put together the rest of the women on the show are. 

In the end, I decided I don't want the mother to be cast. I never want to see her face, or hear her voice. I want her to remain a faceless woman with a yellow umbrella. She will never live up the image the writers have created for us. No actress is going to be that wonderful. And how will she ever compare to the wonderful writing the writers and the acting that Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders have created in Lily and Robin? She never will in my opinion. 

And how could a woman that perfect end up married to the whining, condescending, self-hating man that is Ted Mosby? Ted needs to make serious strides in himself before I will ever believe he can be in a serious and successful marriage. Even Barney has had more self improvement than Ted, and he is the man who should probably have an STD.  

I love HIMYM but I don't love shows that go on for too long. You have to know when you are "beating a dead horse," as it is often said. But I'm excited for the series end, and I will be watching until then. Hopefully the next episode takes me down a few pegs on this post. 

Shows I watch airing this week: 

Sunday: None. 

Monday: None. 

Tuesday: None. 

Wednesday: Modern Family!

Thursday: None. 

WHERE ARE MY SHOWS THIS WEEK?!

"Most men, they'll tell you a story straight through. 

It won't be complicated, but it won't be interesting either."

- Big Fish, screenplay by John August

 I've tried to write blogs before and for some reason I always end up losing interest. This blog may not be able to keep my interest, but I'm starting it because starting over is probably better than continuing a blog I already lost interest in. 

Keep reading this blog if you are interested in hearing my opinions/reviews about the television shows I watch. Those are The Good Wife, How I Met Your Mother, Pretty Little Liars, Modern Family, The Vampire Diaries, Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Parenthood. There are more but those are the ones that currently come to mind. 

My blog will also include my struggles, successes, and thoughts on writing. I will be reviewing books I read, movies I see, and new TV shows I try to start. Most of my work includes a feminist opinion, and those will be shared on this blog as well. 

The rating system I have established for myself is as follows: 

1. The lowest score. These are books/TV/ movies I have a hard time finishing because I find something about the writing, or acting unbearable. An example of a book with the score of 1 would be Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

2. A score of a 2 means the book was readable, but I didn't care. The book either made me feel annoyance or nothing at all. Example: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. 

3. Maybe the book I deem a 3 isn't that well written on an English class scale but something made me love it. Example: Looking for Alaska by John Green. 

4. English class level writing but still enjoyable to any reader. A 4 should be something I gush over without any hesitation to someone who is judgmental about author choices. Example: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

5. Books I call a 5 should be amazing. Maybe people don't like these books but it's not without millions who love them and the chance for them to be remembered forever. My example of a 5 is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. 

I will officially start this blog on Monday, with a rundown of the TV shows I watched the week prior. Have a good weekend everyone!

Just finished reading: The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick 
Currently reading: Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test edited by Mark D. White
and Watchmen by Alan Moore