Friday Links has a Talking Cat
Originally published at tansyrr.com. You can comment here or there.
I’ve been hunting for a new addictive, fluffy manga series since Fruits Basket came to an end, and this article about the new translations and releases of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and Codename Sailor V was very enticing. I’m going in!
Also I’ve had a great time recently reading and discussing comics, and particularly discovering how many of my friends secretly love the Keith Giffen Justice League era. After my complaints at the ‘big guns’ style of Justice League, Cranky Nick sent me a link to this brilliant comic strip which sums it all up for me. Love it!
For those looking for an update on the #YesGayYA controversy (which seems to have mostly died down now) Cleolinda posted a brilliant survey and summary of the main points of what happened and what was said. It’s a very even-handed, non-accusatory post, which she felt compelled to write when she saw the situation being described inappropriately as “a hoax.” I also liked Julia Rios’ take on it, from the Outer Alliance blog. Foz Meadows uses this issue as a jumping off point to talk about the heartbreak that happens when kids become aware of being discriminated against, regardless of the specific form of bigotry.
Speaking of YA, this older post that Tehani pointed me towards asked the question ‘how dark are YA covers really?’ after that other YA controversy from earlier this year, and has some great visuals to illustrate the answers.
Seanan Maguire wrote a powerful and important post about the divide between rich and poor when e-books are concerned. This is something I’ve been thinking for a while, whenever people gleefully predict the ‘death of print books’. Australia is a country where it’s possible to be in “information-poverty” regardless of your financial situation, and so it’s far more obvious from here that e-technologies, however wonderful, are not available to everyone. Seanan writes about the issue beautifully, and I think it’s an essay that needs more exposure.
Charles Tan, who has also been an advocate for issues to do with e-poverty (and general book poverty) in countries outside the US, writes here about speculative fiction in the Philippines and what SF local content is available.
I’ve really been enjoying the guest posts about pro writers and indie press over at Fablecroft, and particularly this piece by the sharp and generally awesome Cat Sparks.
Bitch Magazine’s blog has been doing a fantastic series about the various problematic portrayals of mental illness in pop culture, and I had to single out this particular post which talks about why, exactly, this issue is so important and how pop culture can not only shape society’s perceptions about social issues, but can damage lives.
Meanwhile, a man involved in the gaming industry writes a letter to his someday daughter, apologising for the world he works in, and explaining at length many of the problems which are endemic to the gaming industry. The post is incredibly long, rambling in places and flawed in several places, and yet is a vital and important document which depicts a personal journey from dumb, default-misogynist teenager to sensible and pragmatic pro-feminist adult who is ashamed of what he sees around him. I particularly love the bit where he focuses on the kneejerk assumptions and insults made about ‘feminists’ among male gamers and tries to explain it in their own language:
“If your first instinct when you hear the word “feminist” is to say “those man-haters want equality, but they still want me to pay for everything, hurf durf!” then you currently have as accurate an understanding of feminism as a confectioner would have of a Titan II missile schematic. You know those congressmen who say that Grand Theft Auto IV is a “crime simulator” that is “training new felons?” That’s you, and feminism.”
Meanwhile, Jim C Hines has something to say about what it actually means when ‘political correctness’ is used as an insult, and comes up his own new version, to make people feel better about their bigotry. I think my favourites are “fulfill the masculinity quota” and replacing the upsetting word “privilege” with ‘“disproportionately equal.”
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