Date: 2009-08-19 12:55 Subject: Posting this because this topic has me pissed off Security: Public Mood: disappointed

SAVE 10 DOLLARS, HELP STOP RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN’S “THE LAST AIRBENDER” WHITEWASHES ASIAN AND INUIT CHARACTERS

Just a few decades ago, in the golden days of old Hollywood, for many directors, screenwriters, and many others in the movie industry, yellowface was their bread and butter. Never heard of “yellowface”? In short, it is the Asian equivalent of blackface, which was seen most often in minstrel shows (comic and exaggerated performances by white actors who painted their faces black, beginning in the 1830’s and lasting all the way to the 1960’s). If that doesn’t sound right to you, neither should this:

Perhaps you remember the “infamous Dr. FuManchu,” “the yellow peril”? His many movies and TV shows were immensely popular. They also featured white actors (Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, etc.) who wore prosthetics and makeup to make them appear Asian. This same practice was repeated for decades, even in roles that did not seek to mock or villanize images of Asian characters.
Doesn’t this beg the question, why not simply hire Asian actors in the first place?
Unfortunately, even today, in 2009, we have not yet seen the end of racial discrimination and even yellowface in Hollywood.

2005. The animated TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender aired on Nickelodeon. The show featured heavy cultural and ideological influences from Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Inuit cultures, and also incorporated Chinese martial arts and Hindu and Buddist philosophies. Originally aimed at young boys, Avatar’s careful research and sensitive portrayals of its Asian and Inuit heroes made it wildly popular among adults and children alike worldwide.




2008. Director M. Night Shyamalan, who had purchased the rights to make a live-action film version of Avatar, announced his cast of heroes. In his version, known officially as “The Last Airbender,” and set for release in 2010, the Inuit brother and sister Sokka and Katara, will each be played by white actors (Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, respectively). Aang, the titular “Avatar,” whose clothing, philosophy, and entire culture is based upon Tibetan Buddhism, will be played by a 12 year-old Caucasian boy from Texas, Noah Ringer. Put simply, this is WHITEWASHING.
Originally, the part of antagonist Prince Zuko was given to blonde, blue-eyed popstar Jesse McCartney, though that decision was later revised due to McCartney’s “scheduling conflicts.” Instead, the role was given to Indian Slumdog Millionaire’s Dev Patel. The choice, however, does not excuse Paramount Pictures of blame. Following Patel’s casting, they promptly cast several other Indian, and Iranian actors to play key roles in the villanous Fire Nation. The problem with this?




Paramount has given race a priority in the story in a way it was never meant to be. They have created a situation wherein GOOD WHITE HEROES must overcome their EVIL BROWN FOES.
This is not right.
It’s time we gave children of racial minorities heroes that look like they do.
We don’t want ever want to see this on the screen again:

(Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961))

“If you're Korean, wear a kimono. If you're from Belgium, wear lederhosen.” – DeeDee Ricketts, casting director of “The Last Airbender”

Don’t support racial discrimination.
PLEASE BOYCOTT “THE LAST AIRBENDER”!

Please visit http://racebending.com for more information!
Sign the boycott petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/racebend/

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Date: 2009-05-29 09:10 Subject: Turn Coat Security: Public

My library finally got me a copy of Turn Coat. I flove the Dresden series, that's all there is too it. I'm hoping that by the end of the series, everything will turn out okay, but I'm not sure exactly where it's headed. This is the only book series I've really been reading recently, and the only one that makes me care so much about all the characters. I don't want to see any of them hurt.

Now if only my research reading was as interesting and wonderful.

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Date: 2009-01-23 09:58 Subject: Lets ban books Security: Public

At least children's ones.
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1573

Last year, congress passed a law that bans lead in products for children under 12. Good, yes? Except it requires expensive testing for products that don't contain lead already, like children's books and clothing and wooden toys. As the ALA points out, there's no way libraries can test all the children's books in their collections, and some small scale crafters and small businesses are going to have to go out of business.

Another interesting link is this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUlY6zOMPqQ&feature=related
It's a video from a guy who owns a company that makes educational toys and classroom kits and equipment, Learning Resources.

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Date: 2008-11-05 08:51 Subject: Wow Security: Public Music: S' Wonderful

When I went to bed last night, the returns were still coming in. When I woke up this morning, Indiana was Blue! I never expected to see that in my lifetime. It's kind of funny if you look at the county maps, because the only actual blue counties were Indianapolis (Marion County), Tippecanoe (Purdue University), whatever county IU is in, then a swath from Gary to South Bend, the bigger cities in the southwest corner, and 2 near Indy. Countywise, it seems pretty similar to the last elections, but the margins were just big enough. Amazing. Also last night before bed, I heard a lot of cheering from apartments near to mine, so I'm guessing there are some Obama supporters around here. I knew the apartment complex behind me had some, based on the Obama yard sign, Obama symbol jack-o-lantern, and Yes we can jack-o-lantern.

Now for the 2.5 months left of Bush to end. I wonder how long it will take for me to see someone with a public countdown going.

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Date: 2008-10-08 20:05 Subject: Is it over yet Security: Public

I'm getting sick of political ads. Guess what candidates, neither of you is going to be able to suddenly, drastically cut spending to nothing. McCain definitely bugs more, his ads seem to have more outright lies and bigger exaggerations, but both are sets of ads are annoying.

I miss Indiana and its nice "we always vote republican so don't even bother showing political ads" attitude.

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Date: 2008-09-20 21:40 Subject: Quote of the Day Security: Public

"Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don't like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity." -crazy Evangelical Christian guy under investigation about child abuse and child porn

Yahoo article about raid on christian compound regarding child porn.

Yeah, that's right, we Catholics just loathe Christianity. Never mind that we started the religion.

In all reality, it makes me incredibly sad and scared that there are people that crazy and that place themselves in authority over others, using religion in a hateful way.

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Date: 2008-08-29 22:54 Subject: Stop it Disney Security: Public

Stop trying to destroy my childhood memories. Now please.

It seems like anytime I have the TV on every commercial break contains an ad for the Little Mermaid prequel movie thing. The Little Mermaid is one of the first movies I remember seeing and I'm fairly certain it was the first VCR tape my parents ever bought for me. They really didn't need to create some stupid movie about Ariel bringing music to the undersea palace. The ads annoy me because they use clips of the wonderful music from the original, drawing my ears in.

So please Disney, stop it. It's one thing to create sequels and prequels and midquels and whatever other quels you can think up for movies within a couple years of the original, but ones that were favorites of mine almost 20 years ago, please don't.

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Date: 2008-08-08 23:25 Subject: Wrong Security: Public

The people in this picture are Kiwis, not Aussies. It's really bugging me and I'm not sure why.

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Date: 2008-05-29 17:20 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public Mood: thoughtful

So I finally got to read Small Favor. I'm already going "so when does the next one come out?" Though if Butcher had actually killed Michael at the end I might have had to stop reading, because he's possibly my favorite character who isn't the narrator. I really, really enjoy the Dresden series. I like that even though the viewpoint character is rather apathetic about faith and religion, characters with strong faith are not shown as being stupid or bad. As a fairly religious person/person of faith, it's a nice change from a lot of fantasy/scifi where people who profess a belief in God are either evil or stupid idiots. It's also nice to see a (fantasy) series that has the character change and grow and actually learn from previous mistakes. It seems like a lot of series books--not just fantasy series--have the characters reset back to zero between books, unless it's something like Harry Potter that is designed to be a complete arc over X books.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I've decided to reread the series and see if I like them anymore now that I've been spoiled for all the major plot stuff that happens in book 7. I don't think I've reread anything before book 5 since high school, and I only read books 5 and 6 once when they came out. I haven't actually read book 7 and can't decide if I will ever read it or not. Part of it's that I don't want to buy a copy but am worried about damaging a library copy when I inevitably end up wanting to throw it at a wall.

Isn't it odd how a relatively small change to one's schedule can leave you feeling off balance? It's Thursday, and I don't have to go rehearse music for Sunday's mass because our priest is out of town so we aren't having mass on campus. Not have rehearsal, or at least a list of numbers to look over on my own feels weird after 2 semesters of Thursday rehearsals.

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Date: 2008-05-24 23:23 Subject: Why I love Virginia Security: Public

I didn't even remember there was some race thingy going on like tomorrow until it showed up on Yahoo!'s front page yesterday. Unlike Indiana where the entire evening news for a month is pretty much dedicated to what random stuff happened at the track that day or a sob story about a random driver.

And I now own a guitar, which isn't really related to Virginia.

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Date: 2008-03-09 13:25 Subject: Back Security: Public

I'm back. Mexico was great, and I'll try to post a better entry later. Due to a storm/high winds/something our flight from Atlanta to Reagan was cancelled last night, as was every other flight to DC/Northern Virginia, so this morning we had to fly to Charlotte, NC and rent a van to drive to Blacksburg. As my car, with cell phone inside, was parked at a house about 10 minutes from the Reagan airport, I am without a car until this weekend and without a cell phone until Tuesday. (The family of the guy I was staying with had to mail him his keys, so they are also mailing my cell phone, which should arrive around Tuesday). As Fr. John kept telling us, it was all a continuation of the adventure.

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Date: 2008-02-29 13:24 Subject: Spring Break Security: Public

So I'm leaving in about 10 minutes to drive to NOVA (northern Virginia) so I can fly out with the Newman Catholic Center people at 6:30 am tomorrow to go Mexico. Wish us luck! I'll be back very late on the 8th, and probably not back to my computer until the 9th.

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Date: 2008-01-30 20:53 Subject: Oh Disney Security: Public Mood: bored

So I was flipping channels, and Disney had some music videos on. One was Hannah Montana's "Rockstar," which disturbingly enough I kind of like, and one was the guy from Hannah Montana doing a rapped-out version of Lean on Me. Is there anyone Disney can't make sing? It didn't help that I decided to buy The Little Mermaid today and I made the mistake of watching the Ashley Tisdale version of Kiss the Girl. I didn't think it was possible to destroy that song (remember, I heard the West Side choir sing it).

Oh well, back to writing an essay about "What is normal" for my toxicology class. Normal includes pain where I got a Typhoid vaccine this afternoon, right?

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Date: 2007-12-25 12:01 Subject: Merry Christmas! Security: Public Mood: content

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and gets everything they were hoping for.

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Date: 2007-11-26 19:42 Subject: This is so dumb but funny Security: Public

Link: The Which Golden-Girl/TMNT are you Test written by ChimericMouse on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

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Date: 2007-11-22 12:52 Subject: Happy Thanksgiving Security: Public

Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving.

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Date: 2007-10-21 08:35 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! *Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...they have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

I stole this from roselire.

What is your name? Elizabeth
Vehicle: El-Train
City: Edmondton
Boy Name: Earnest
Girl Name: Emily
Alcoholic drink: Egg Nog
Occupation: Environmental Engineer
Something you wear: Earrings
Celebrity: Elizabeth Taylor
Food: Eggs
Reason for Being Late: Electricity out
Cartoon Character: Edward Elric
Something You Shout: EEEEK!

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Date: 2007-10-03 13:19 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public Mood: disappointed

If you have ever read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, I'm going to suggest you avoid the movie version (now called "The Seeker") like the plague. This post details all the changes they've made from the book. It sounds like it all goes far beyond "The book is the book, the movie is the movie" changes. It looks worse than the Scarlet Letter (now with more Indian attacks!) for completely destroying the source material. Apparently almost no one involved in the film has actually read the books. At least one person is calling for a boycott over here.

I love fantasy and fantasy movies, but I almost wish this particular fantasy renaissance was over, since it just involves adapting novels. The cool thing about the 80's fantasy renaissance, with movies like Labyrinth and Dark Crystal, was they involved original stories rather than destroying childhood memories and trying to shove an intricate novel or series into 2 hours of special effects.

Side note: When I was sorting through all my bins in the basement before I moved, I discovered my reading list from 5th grade at Burtsfield. Dark is rising series and part of the Prydain chronicles were listed.

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Date: 2007-09-13 22:47 Subject: Pointless Entry Security: Public

1. Go to here.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results

My Results:
1. Ecologist
2. Oceanographer
3. Environmental Engineer
4. Veterinarian
5. Taxidermist
6. Environmental Consultant
7. Marine Biologist
8. Special Effects Technician
9. Zoologist
10. Agricultural Engineer

And because it amused me, 11 was Electrical Engineer while 12 was Make-up artist. Of my top 10, I'm actually studying one and considered all except taxidermist at some point in my life I think. I said I liked creative things so I have stuff like comedian and stunt person in between things like land surveyor, astronomer and various Engineering fields.

Everyone should go read 8 Sci-fi visions of the future.

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Date: 2007-07-31 19:59 Subject: Idiots Security: Public Mood: angry

I know most of my friendslist doesn't follow fandom, but I do follow metafandom, and some recent stuff has me really pissed off. There's a porn community for Harry Potter called Daily Deviant. They post topics for challenges. For July, they decided to post the topic "miscegenation." For those that don't recognize it right off, it's an old term for interracial relationships. You might recognize from anti-miscegenation laws, banning marriages between whites and people of color. The idiots at Daily Deviant decided to go one step further and define it as relationships between people of different races or species. Thus Neville/Padma (a white/Indian pairing) = Harry/Goat. Someone emailed the mods to point out how offensive that is, and they were all "wah, everything offends someone. We choose our prompts randomly." Metafandom (which links to posts about fandom topics) is full of people discussing this and expressing their outrage at the communities response and reading through the conversation and the mods idiocy has me really angry. I don't read porn, and probably would be offended by a lot of their challenges, but the issue is that I'm offended by their choice of term and the suggestion that some of my friends and their significant others are in relationships that should be equated with bestiality and that my non white friends are tainting white blood.

ETA: The mods posted an apology, but if you read through some of today's posts at metafandom a least a few of the mod's are making really stupid comments in other places.

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