I love this article, which basically said it for me: 

http://laist.com/2010/07/08/dc_comics_bravely_reinvents_wonder.php

A few days ago, a friend of mine from England asked me for my insight because he'd read a discussion going on on a friend of mine's facebook wall about The Last Airbender being racist.  He said that not coming from an American background he didn't understand all the fuss about the white casting (and Indian casting of Dev Patel - who was so loved in Slumdog Millionaire) of the movie. 

So I wrote him a long message back about how the cartoon had clearly made the cultural background of these characters very specific.  How in American cinema, anything expected to be a blockbuster is cast mostly white, and that only smaller movies are allowed to be "ethnic." 

I told him about friends of mine that are Asian-American, born in America, and how they still don't see themselves as "American."  How they have stories about trying to make themselves look more white, or how their parents tried to make them look more white growing up, seemingly to help them do better in society.  

I briefly wrote about how since we have such a varied culture that even though whites are still the majority of society, that it is still important to represent everyone, especially when the story is about their culture. 

I even mentioned that personally, I do not have a problem with changing the race of a character in the film from the race of the character in the source material as long as it is not integral to the characters (as we see often with Will Smith, Kingpin in that awful Daredevil movie, actually can't think of very many examples right now).  But, that I have a problem with it when the race and culture are explicit to the character, like I felt that it was in Airbender, or like it would be for something like playing Ghandi (an example of past instances that he gave).

And his response was:


I've never been so disappointed.  I don't even know how to respond to that.

M. Night Shyamalan addresses fans questions here.  The second to last question is the race question.  It doesn't feel remotely genuine.  

Not to mention, M. Night, Avatar the cartoon wasn't really an anime.....and even if it was, the notion that those characters were racially ambiguous (that any kid could see themselves in them) is beyond ridiculous.  More stupid is the idea that kids of multiple ethnic backgrounds will still be able to see themselves in the those characters in a live action movie where all the main characters are white (even though, he makes a point of noting that the background players are ethnically mixed).   

Lame!

This song came on my radar today.  The lyrics have set me to thinking.  It's interesting too to read how different people interpret them.

Maybe You're Right
Barenaked Ladies


It was often talked about; it was often raised
But nothing was ever done about it
To hear the way they talked about it, no one could be saved
But nothing was ever done about it

Shall I take back everything I've ever said
And live my whole life in silence instead?

It was oversimplified; it was under-thought
And nothing was ever done to stop it
Everything was fortified by all the lies we bought
And nothing was ever done to stop it

Shall I take back everything I've ever said
(Shall I take back all my attacks? All of my accusations?)
And live my whole life in silence instead?
(All my mistrust - we never discussed anyone's reservations)

There was a time when a crime was a crime
But now I think I'm losing my mind
Or taking it all too hard
Taking it all too hard
Taking it all too hard

Shall I take back everything I've ever said
(Shall I take back all my attacks? All of my accusations?)
And live my whole life in silence instead?
(All my mistrust - we never discussed anyone's reservations)
Keep to myself

Maybe you're right
Maybe you're right
Maybe you're right
But I don't think so

Was listening to Pandora today and this song came on and caught my attention:

People Look Around
Written by Catie Curtis and Mark Erelli

Mississippi River divides this land in two,
Like the way we tend to think of things;
Black and white, red and blue.
If they can keep us fighting about marriage and God,
There’ll be no one left to notice if the leaders do their jobs.
And the truth is bigger than these drops of rain, falling.
The truth is bigger than these drops of rain,
Falling in the ocean, falling…
When the water is rising and there is no higher ground,
You can wave your hands up on the roof,
But you might be left to drown.
In the streets of New Orleans; a makeshift funeral pall,
Here lies Vera, God help us all.
And the truth is bigger than these drops of rain, falling.
The truth is bigger than these drops of rain,
Falling in the ocean, falling…
Jesus said, “Feed the hungry,” Jesus said “Help the poor,”
“ Take care of each other love one another,”
People look around.
We let them down.
Mississippi River flooded New Orleans,
And we stared in disbelief at our TV screens,
If they can keep us fighting another endless war,
How many tears before the truth cannot be ignored?
And the truth is bigger than these drops of rain, falling.
The truth is bigger than these drops of rain,
Falling in Lake Pontchartrain.
Falling in the ocean, falling…

Well to me this is funny anyway: 

http://www.pvponline.com/2009/11/04/dear-kurt/

I think my favorite part is when he says, "Maybe if you cared enough to actually get my name right, or maybe if you cared about creators like the late, great Mike Wieringo beyond what they can do for you THIS FIVE MINUTES, the entire industry wouldn’t all be anticipating your inevitable bankruptcy."

But this could just be so funny to me because I know too personally how this company screws(ed) people over.

I always want to have a reason to dress up for Halloween, but it seems like most years nothing's happening.  And this year, things were definitely not coming together.  I had wanted to have a party at my place, but we never could manage to get rid of the boxes that are taking up half of the dining room and I simply refuse to try to have a party amongst the mess.  Maybe next year.  In the meantime, no one else seemed to plan anything either. 

And I'd just come to the conclusion that nothing was happening and started to look forward to at least being able to hand out candy for the first time in years.  And then, yesterday, a friend of mine invited me to a party out of the blue. 

So, now I have to try and think of a costume in a week - when they're notoriously sold out and it's a short amount of time to make anything (not like I can actually sew anyway).  Oh man I'm feeling so uncreative right now.

This  really bothers me.  I can't even figure out what kind of sick mind comes up with a list like this.

Oh good lord...thankfully I don't think I'll offend anyone that actually reads this....but I get so annoyed by people misusing homonyms.  Ok, I can almost understand two, to, and too.   And I can see that some people might have a tricky time with their, they're, and there.  But, my god!  How do people use are for our?  How?

I am so sick of the notion that just because someone can write and/or edit well, that it must be some sort of natural gift and therefore doesn't deserve the kind of pay that someone would get for any other work on the planet.  Sure, the people trying to "hire" me can't write, and acknowledge they can't write, well enough to do it themselves, but somehow it's still not something they think deserves pay.  ugh.

Oh no.  Of course just because I can put together a sentence correctly and understand grammar, of course that doesn't take any effort.