Father, stepfather, partner, editor, writer
I've been watching a lot of zombie movies again. Last night's was the almost worthless 1979 film "Zombie," aka "Zombi 2." I say "almost" because it does include a scene of a zombie fighting with a non-CGI shark. Here's the video. You're welcome.
It's worth noting that in the scene immediately preceding this one, the zombie menaces a diver who is entirely naked except for a thong and scuba gear.
My son on the second half of #Dune: "It's like Lawrence of Arabia if Lawrence was tripping the entire time."
Member of the #AcadémieFrançaise complains about #English loan words and the consequences for #French society of the loss of the ancient French word "compersion" (in fact an English word invented in the 1970s)
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=59056
"And it's indeed ironic for a luminary of l'Académie Française to argue, by implication, that the remedy for the French nation's collapse is polyamory."
#compersion #polyamory #language #standards #LanguagePreservation #globalisme
@coolgrey fair points
Today, I published an essay on two recent books: Fifty Years of #Polyamory in America, by Glen W. Olson and Terry Lee Brussel-Rogers, and Polyamorous Elders, by therapist and nurse Kathy Labriola.
I liked both these books, though I think #Polyamorous #Elders is the one we all need to read. It is FASCINATING to read dozens of case histories of polyamorous people entering and navigating their last chapters.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/How_Polyamorous_People_Find_Happinesss_in_Later_Life
I will never, for as long as I live, understand how anyone could form a cult around someone as venal and stupid as Trump.
Joe Haldeman (1943-) was born on this day. Bibliography: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?27
L, Murray Tinkelman, 1976; R, Jim Burns, 1988
The bottom line, of course, is that partially clothed, conventionally beautiful, non-threatening women sold magazines and books to their intended audience. As the audiences for #sciencefiction have diversified, this kind of image has become extremely complex. In my search for these images, for example, I discovered that they’re being remixed as transgender/gender-fluid memes, using the chrysalis metaphor. These things are never static; genre images are tools that can be used in different ways by different people. 6/6
Sometimes, she doesn’t seem to be a prisoner at all. Instead, the glass container seems more like a chrysalis—a place of transformation. Or preservation. From that perspective, the glass (or ice) tube (or ball or dome or chamber, or whatever) can be less a literal prison and more of a metaphor for… for… youth? technological transformation of human bodies? It depends. 5/6
For example, you do see genderless #robots and #aliens under glass; you also see dudes and cishet couples. Sometimes it’s aliens or animals or alien animals gazing at the women. Sometimes she’s clearly the subject of an experiment by mad scientists. Sometimes, she’s threatened by a #yellowmenace; the anti-Asian racism in mid-century #sciencefiction was quite intense. Occasionally, the bikini-clad babe is the one in control, with a man or creature under glass. 4/6
The dial-a-critique hot take is obvious: sexualized women imprisoned in transparent containers for the benefit of the male gaze. I have no argument with that, but when you account for all the elements and variations in this image, that doesn’t feel to me like the whole story. 3/6
The imagery has quite old antecedents: you see it, for example, in illustrations for the original tale of #SnowWhite, by the #BrothersGrimm. But I’ve never encountered a really intelligent history or analysis of this image. It reached its peak on the covers of #sciencefiction #magazines 1930-60, but you still see contemporary examples: think of Ripley in her panties sleeping away the light years in the #alienmovies 2/6
I have a lot to do today, so naturally I’m taking to social media with the purpose of discussing something ridiculous: science fiction’s obsession with putting scantily clad (or even nekkid!!) women in glass containers. 1/6
@bookstodon Today, my librarian told me about a good place to buy books online: Better World Books. Many of the books are library discards in very good condition. The shipping is free, and the proceeds go toward libraries, literacy programs (worldwide) and education. #books #bookstodon #library
It's really good thing I don't have to explain to my children that the president of the United States paid off an adult film start to keep his extramarital sex a secret. Instead, I'm thinking tonight we'll talk about #dragqueens and #CriticalRaceTheory
@louche_librarian Should I make this my profile pic?
I collect #vintage #sciencefiction magazines. I stumbled across this one in a little bookstore & bought it for 5 bucks: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 1954. The cover by Nick Solovioff is not one of the famous ones you see everywhere; it breaks a lot of rules for the marketplace of the time. And yet it really struck me when I saw it on the shelf; it has a wonderfully intense energy in the lines and color.
@Cathartink Yeah...
@Nuno Sad to see Twitter on Mastodon.
Did you know that American police officers receive the fewest hours of training in the developed world? Are you aware that their training emphasizes violence much more than police training in other countries? Did you know that Americans are vastly more likely to die in the hands of police than citizens in any other democratic country--no matter what their race?
Those are just a few of the things I discovered researching this article. #tyrenichols
