Clap your hands if you believe in geek girls

The Princess Issues and Preferred Princesses posts made me think more and more about what I read or played with as a child. I think the closest thing to a princess that I had was a She-Ra doll and castle. I did have My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Charmkins, Cabbage Patch Kids and a couple Jem dolls. When playing make believe outside with friends who were boys, I was always Leia. I played a lot with my brother's transformers (and hated Arcee) and still clearly remember Scarlett and Lady Jaye on G.I. Joe. Scarlett and Daphne (from Scooby Doo) always stuck in my mind as they were the two red headed girls I saw on tv like me. Daphne was always a disappointment as she never did anything and usually needed to be rescued.

Mostly I spent my time reading - I particularly remember the Ramona books, Beverly Cleary and Judy Bloom novels, Sweet Valley Twins, Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mysteries. We hit the comic book and collectibles stores on an almost weekly basis - my mother driving us back and forth across the city. I branched out to classics, sci-fi and fantasy in high school, though I was watching Star Trek and reading comics long before then.

I find that I'm particularly aware of gender issues though, perhaps in no small part to my geeky loves. As a geek myself, I was always watching for the female characters. I wanted to see more Leia's, but often got token girls like Arcee. There were girl oriented shows, but they weren't much better really and didn't show the sorts of things I was really interested in. You may have noticed that the geek realm is even now, though improved, very male oriented.

Pop quiz - Tell me the name of a female:

• Jedi
• Starfleet Engineer or Admiral
• Muppet who isn't Miss Piggy
• Heroine in a Disney animated film, or any animated film, who doesn't look like she's wearing a corset
  
• Core lead on a SciFi show (i.e. the show is from their perspective/focus)
  
• On a scifi tv show that was not a sex symbol or married to/mother of a lead male character
• Main character in a geeky movie that isn't primarily dressed in tight clothing
• Character on a geeky show/movie with less than a C cup
  
• Character of significance on a geeky show/movie who is full figured
  
• Character of significance on a geeky show/movie who is obviously over 40 years old and not someone's mother
• Lead for an ongoing comic book series (2+ years) who is not primarily a femme fatale/sex kitten or T&A drawn character
  
• Main character in a fantasy storyline that is *not* a beautiful princess (or a beautiful girl who becomes a princess)
  

*no naming the same character twice and bonus points if you can get these without referring to shows/movies made in the past year (especially BSG)

They are out there, but they're less common than I'd like. The idea that women in central roles won't pull in audience members is clearly wrong - evidence the Alien franchise. Television series like Buffy:TVS or Xena:WP were spectacularly popular as well.

I'll concede to there being a lot more examples in written fiction, but there's a lot more fiction published in general. Good female characters, particularly in hard sci-fi, are scarce. Some of it can be attributed to the time in which some films or shows were made. There have been a couple shows in recent years that have written some excellent female characters in and that's been really thrilling and enjoyable for me. I know they took a lot of flak for casting the new Starbuck as woman, but BSG has been particularly awesome with it's female characters.

Many of these issues crop up in hollywood/tvland in general, I know. I feel that Science Fiction, despite often being driven at the 12-24 male demographic, should be better though. So much of it is set in the future, or alternate realms in the case of fantasy, given our modern culture is it really so hard to see more women featured prominently in story lines? I'd like to share all things geektastic with my Geekling and I want her to have characters that she can connect with - female characters in SF works that show our gender as being involved, valued and are fun to watch.

Thoughts?

SciFi Movie Round Up

Yeah, so, I'm trying to write more, but lately, the writing has been not so forthcoming...

I love science fiction. I am also a fan of many many geekesque genres. With regards to SF though, I tend to prefer softer social type science fiction (ala Star Trek or 1984) and adore Cyberpunk (is they could only film Gibson's works properly!). Hard SF can be good too.

Definition: Science Fiction: fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component.

Here are some science fiction films I have enjoyed and recommend to those so inclined. This isn't an exhaustive list. These are based only on the movies I've seen and are subject to my own biases, of course. I'm also seriously limiting myself here, otherwise it could be looooooong.

The Classics (pre-1980)
While they are the product of their time, and thus technical effects are lacking, they are all still good viewing. It is especially interesting to see how relevant the messages of these films remain.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Klaatu Barada Nikto! I haven't seen the remake and have no desire to see it either. The original doesn't need glitzing up IMNSHO. The movie promotes the idea of peace and questions the nature of humanity; it's aggression and propensity to war. Having recently entered the atomic age, this film reflects the concerns about these potentially catastrophic scientific advances. While the main conflicts of the day focused on communism and the red scare, the fear evoked here is not so different than today's looming threat of fanatical terrorism.

Planet of the Apes (1968)
Another great original film where you need not bother with the remake, the old school Charlton Heston version is where it's at. Just watch it... and try not to let the laughable ape costuming throw you off the story.

Soylent Green (1973)
Of all, this one is probably most known for it's shocking conclusion. I'm not going to mention it here, just in case you don't know and want to see the film with fresh eyes. Of all the classic movies I've listed, I think this one is especially relevant to our current lifestyle and future (for us Western 1st world types anyway). It brings up the potentially devastating effects of climate change and population growth; food scarcity is central here. The film itself is an SF detective story and well worth viewing, even if you already know the ending.

Honorable mentions:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Logan's Run (1976)

More Recent Films (1980-1999)

Bladerunner (1982)
A cyberpunk classic. Based on Phillip K. Dick's short story Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Go rent this now if you consider yourself any kind of geek or SF lover - this is mandatory viewing! Don't make me enlist the fanboy hordes here, ok? While the movie will seem a bit dated now, it was the first mainstream work in the cyberpunk SF genre. I you don't know what cyberpunk is, try reading William Gibson's Neuromancer for a start.

Gattaca (1997)
A not-so-distant future where eugenics has subtly been embraced by those who can access the technology and genetic discrimination is rampant, though technically not permitted. This is a real possibility for our future, if law and society don't work to balance things out for everyone when this technology becomes more accessible and potentially desired. It takes an interesting view, showing that "perfect" genes might not be able to provide the qualities needed for success (like drive, spirit, perseverance); whereas imperfect genes don't necessarily preclude a person from triumphing, if they aren't starved of opportunity.

Contact (1997)
Great, though still not as good as the book, but that's always the case with book based films really. Carl Sagan wrote the book and the film has his sense of hope and wonder at the universe. The story is about the search for extraterrestrial life and what happens, particularly to the main character Ellie, when a message is received. With science and a fair bit of realism thrown into the SF possibilities, and some good science-and-religion-friends-or-foes moments, this was a very different and enjoyable film.

Honorable mentions:
RoboCop (1987)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Recent Films (1999-, basically the last 10 years)
In 1999, The Matrix was released and SF seemed to be in full upswing at the cinema. Lots of great films have been made in the past decade, so I'm selecting a few from a wide range. I decided not to include borderline SF films like Donnie Darko and Being John Malkovich - though I did include one Kaufman written (co-written really) film.

Minority Report (2002)
Tom Cruise aside, this is an enthralling depiction of the future and an interesting take on temporal workings, though no time travel occurs. It is based on a Phillip K Dick short story by the same name (are you sensing a theme?). The movie is a thriller/detective/SF film that looks at how people with predictive abilities could be treated, whether we are subject to these futures or have free will, and how the potential futures they predict might be rightly or wrongly relied upon.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
I just really liked this movie. While it's mainly about people and relationships. The SF bit is that, in this setting, people can have specific memories removed via technology. The common use here is that you can remove all your memories of a particular person and relationship. The effect this has on people is fascinating. There's also a subtle examination of whether we should be using the tech this way - i.e. is we remove the memories, how can we learn from our mistakes?

Primer (2004)
This is the best Time Travel movie I have ever seen. It's brilliant and after you watch it you immediately want to watch the whole thing again, and again, and again, and then you go online and look at the charts and analysis and watch it *again*. It's a wonderfully thought out, performed and challenging movie.

Sunshine (2007)
Realistic space travel! While this movie gets a bit weird in the end, I enjoyed it's drama. The plot revolves around a group of scientists/astronauts on a long term voyage to the sun. The sun is dying and their mission is to fix it. While there is a lot of science, though not all completely accurate, the movie is a psychological drama too. I really liked that the characters all seemed like real people and made sense on the ship (i.e. not all pretty young Hollywood types).

Honorable mentions:
A.I. (2001)
Children of Men (2006)

Franchises
I'm keeping these in a separate category. They're mostly soft SF films. There are quite a few movies encapsulated in the series listed below, not to mention all the spin off books, comics, games and so on.

Back to the Future
Starting in 1985, the adventures of Marty McFly and Doc Brown are not to be missed. The films are time travel based and, though very light and comedic, actually do bring up some temporal issues: paradoxes, time travel ethics and what have you. There's no need for a dissection here - if you have a rainy Sunday to burn, grab this trilogy and relax with a big bowl of popcorn.

Alien
While these movies are excellent (yay Ripley!), the SF elements are mixed with large doses of other genres. The first, Alien, is primarily a suspense thriller set in space with a monster, the alien, stalking them (though there is the android). In the second film of the franchise, Aliens, we get a more typical action blockbuster, with some additional SF. The nature and origin of the aliens is discussed, the potential for turning them into weapons is there (and the ethical considerations of doing so), Bishop, as a synthetic being, is portrayed very humanlike and there's a bit more about what this future society is like. These threads continue a little through Aliens 3, but Alien Resurrection has more SF depth as synthetic personhood/rights in particular are an important plot piece, as are cloning and species hybridization.

Terminator
SF to the core, this series begins with a terrifyingly possible future crisis. In The Terminator, we have an unlikely heroine being helped to survive, as she's being hunted to prevent something she has no inkling of doing yet - her future son will be important in the resistance against intelligent machines (who also haven't been created yet). It has a great SF ending and the second excellent movie, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, continues in this vein. The third film is less than memorable for me. I have yet to see the fourth film in the franchise, Terminator Salvation. Sadly, it's Rotten Tomatoes ranking is not doing so well. I also haven't watched the Sarah Connor Chronicles yet - a tv series that takes place just after T2.

Star Wars
See this post for some of my thoughts on Star Wars as SF. In general, these movies, especially IV, V and VI, are highly entertaining. If you haven't seen any of them, you must be a horribly deprived luddite - I bet your mom didn't let you eat cookies when you were a kid either, did she? Oh - and you Star Wars fanboys Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG is in the works - this is your heroin.

Star Trek
Much like Star Wars, the Star Trek movies are SF in their setting and hit and miss with the big SF themes. The television shows had a lot more to offer SF wise. However, the general rule of thumb for good Trek films is that the even numbered ones are best. II is Wrath of Khan, which springs from the truly excellent episode Space Seed in the original Star Trek series. IV is the funny time travel one with whales. VI is a blend of action/adventure, mystery and high drama. VIII is the Star Trek: The Next Generation film First Contact, which is actually one of the more SF movies as far as Trek goes (Resistance is futile). After that things get a bit hazy with X which is ST:TNG again in Nemesis. I haven't seen the new prequel Star Trek film yet *sob*, but it has good reviews. I suppose it could be XI, though it seems more like it should be numbered differently as it isn't in chronological order like the rest.

Firefly/Serenity
Serenity is the continuation and/or wrap up of the show Firefly, which was cancelled quite early in it's run. It's good, but watch the 13 episodes of the television show first, else the movie loses some of it's impact and the characters aren't quite so embedded in your heart. Firefly is a lot more Western than SF adventure, but Serenity has quite a dose of SF. The story unfolds wonderfully and I highly recommend the Firefly/Serenity package.

...

and that's it. There are lots of other good SF stories out there. These are just my whittled down selections. I could be writing this post for, well, far longer than I have (and I'd like to see my daughter grow up).

So - go watch some movies!

Memories of the Eighties

While the web is a flutter with news about Michael Jackson, I'm going to write about my mom as I listen to our local station which is playing a ton of his music today and through the weekend (including the full Thriller album on Sunday afternoon).

Annie are you okay? Annie are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?

Mom has/had her issues, but as a kid, in the eighties, she was pretty cool. She was very into the music and trends. On my ninth birthday I got a pair of glittery socks and black leather pants. I loved them, but there was more. Tucked into one of the front pockets were tickets to the Jackson's Victory Tour show in Toronto. We were big fans of Michael Jackson and his music. I remember the few records and tapes we had were Michael Jackson, Wham, Michael Jackson, Corey Hart and Mini Pops (covering Michael Jackson, among others). We would rent the same video from the store over and over - The Making of Thriller. Every couple of weekends we'd stop at the rental store and dash to the same spot, hoping the tag would be there and the video available. My brother and I watched this so many times it was committed to memory. I knew who Vincent Price was long before I had heard of horror movies. We really should have just bought a copy of the tape, but this was long before Amazon and we had no idea where to find one.

That's the first image of him that always pops up in my head. Michael Jackson in that black and red leather Thriller jacket. My brother had a jacket when he was older that was his "Michael Jackson" jacket due to the copious number of zippers it sported.

Let's dance. Let's shout. Shake your body down to the ground...

When Mom and I went to see the Victory Tour, our seats were in the centre back, in the stadium seating just where it curves upwards. She later told me she picked that over floor seating as she wasn't sure a nine year old would see much otherwise. There were big panels showing close ups and large balloon balls that the crowd passed around. It was a long night, and I don't remember it all, but I do remember how big a deal it was to me and how much I appreciated it - especially since it was just us without my brother. I used to have a program; where it is now I haven't a clue. I wore those leather pants with another present of glittery socks for as long as I could.

Last night, it was my mom who called me over dinner to tell me that Michael Jackson had died. My first thought was "Is this really a big deal? To call me to tell me?". After thinking about it for a bit, it *is* kinda a big deal for us. For all the problems in our relationship, the little things we did bond over were all in the eighties - Michael Jackson was the core of that.

But if you're thinkin' about my baby, it don't matter of you're black or white...

He was a sad figure towards the end though. Despite his weirdness (and potential deviance with children), which is all some younger people will really remember about him, he was an amazing performer and had a big impact on my childhood.

No doubt there will be a box set to end all box sets put out soon to make money for his financially struggling estate. I look forward to it with sadness and a bit of pity (for Michael) and some dread for what might happen to his children in the media spotlight and with the family which may have caused many of MJ's personal problems. I wonder if all the comparisons I've been hearing to Elvis' death make sense or not. Having died the year, I was born I only know him for his music and pop culture status - will MJ be remembered the same way?

Teacher's gonna show you, how to get an A... A. B. C. It's simple as 1. 2. 3...

Fish She Is Very Small

I have recently been rediscovering my love of sardines.

When I was little, I would eat sardines with my dad. He often took them in his lunch. It was a Big Deal to eat sardines, as there was a decontamination procedure to be followed afterwards. It's one of the few good memories, even if it's a foggy one, that I have of my dad. My parents divorced when I was 9 and his visits were sporadic thereafter. Mom didn't eat, and thus no longer bought, sardines.

Food is something I've become very aware of over the years. I've read some great books on the subject. Sustainability, environmental impact and such, are issues I have in mind when I shop. I'm a sort of vegetarian and have been for years. Then I started into healthier foods, organic food, local food and so on. There are many problems with modern food production and it's such a complex situation. Should you eat organic if the food is produced half the world away by workers with few rights? Is buying local always reasonable when you live in a climate with a harsh winter?

In any case, my most recent explorations have had to do with seafood, which I do eat.
I can honestly say, nothing has ever put me off a food more, than finding out how foreign farmed seafood is managed. I used to eat a lot of shrimp - now it's a rarity. Tuna is right out as well (it's too hard to differentiate between the ok to eat and really bad choices). Our fish stocks are facing a big crisis in future and coastal fish farming is extremely problematic depending on how and where it's done. Environmental impact is a problem too - my hackles are raised whenever I see some fish on sale - like Monkfish or Orange Roughy (the method for fishing them is analogous to clear cutting the ocean floor). Arctic Char and Rainbow Trout are regular visitors to our plates now. I was thrilled this past week to see that my local supermarket has started labeling all the fresh fish with origin, whether it was farmed, and so on.

Where was I? Oh yeah...

Getting back to sardines. Sardines turn out to be one of the most underutilized and more sustainable fish. They way they are fished has a smaller impact (usually purse-seine) and the stocks are fairly strong. So I started trying them again. Now I eat sardine melts, as opposed to tuna melts, on a fairly regular basis. Sadly, Geekling still has no taste for them.

I'm considering canned Salmon - usually wild pacific, which is better. Alaskan Salmon is apparently really well managed, but farmed Atlantic Salmon is a no-no (and our B.C. relatives will give us an earful about it when we mention it). The reason for canned is to learn to make salmon patties. Geekling has had and loved these in the past and I've found a few tasty sounding recipes. Sardine patties don't seem quite right.

In any case, I don't think I'll stop eating fish anytime soon, but I am definitely picky about it. It's interesting that my fishy education and tastes have brought me full circle back to the first fish I remember eating. I'll have to ask my dad if he still takes them to work next time I see him.


Wanna learn about fish?

Bottomfeeder: by Taras Grescoe

Seachoice.org: Look up your favourite fish!

Marine Stewardship Council: They have a certification program you may see on some frozen seafood packages. I've recently started seeing it on frozen fish in our markets which is great.

The New York Times takes a look too in The Seafood Eater's Latest Conundrum

Other great food resources:
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
100 Mile Diet by Smith & MacKinnon
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

I need a latte!

This phrase has been a frequent one in our house as of late (tall, no foam, Tazo chai latte if you're buying), though clearly I'm not living up to it's origins as I haven't been blogging anywhere and my blog reading/commenting is at an all time low.

I did do some catching up today and the Sunday Sweets at Cake Wrecks are awesome - if you are a Star Wars fan take a look.

Plans to finally see Star Trek are in the works with friends and my mom and stepdad are coming down soon. Since my mom is really coming to see Geekling, TWN and I can sneak out for dinner and a movie ourselves. Yay!

It's hard to be clever when you're sick...

So I'm not even going to try. Instead, here are a few mildly interesting things from online this week that I actually skimmed...

Neil Gaiman in the Toronto Star

Gaiman has won awards in almost every field. His Sandman comic series is considered a masterwork of the genre and he's also written bestselling novels including American Gods, Anansi Boys and Stardust, while his children's work includes Coraline, which was adapted for the big screen by Henry Selick. Two more titles, Crazy Hair and Blueberry Girl, are hitting shelves soon. Forbes has called him "the best author you've never heard off."

Bad Mommies in the Toronto Star

What's offputting about this hip-ironic persona, though, is that judging from material, these "bad parents" aren't bad at all... The truth is, the truly bad parents are not the ones out there writing about it and self-flagellating about their transgressions. In that sense, the pose may be simply a cover-up for parents to carry on being just as overwrought as their predecessors, while pretending to do otherwise. In other words, a case of people who protest too much.

I love love LOVE XKCD

I experienced a range of emotions over the recent case of measles and warnings in our community that more were likely to come. The child was not vaccinated, but there was apparently no medical reason why she wasn't. Worry, rage, sadness, frustration.

Oprah in Newsweek - this is exactly the stuff that ticks me off

Cake Wrecks always makes me smile

I will now go back to reading, drinking tea and trying not to whine too much - Geekling has that bit covered (and she's usually barnacled to me too).

My Genetic Legacy

So I haven't gotten to finish my SF film post because of a few things going on. Mainly, it's been stuff for Geekling (which it is usually is).

Geekling is a red head like me. I was hoping she would be when she was born. Unfortunately, my genetic legacy provides traits that aren't always the nicest to have. Red hair in particular is usually accompanied by a genetic weakness that gives one fair skin. The kind of skin that's fine in the cloudy British Isles, but not so great elsewhere. I have three settings: superwhite, freckled, and sunburnt. Geekling hasn't shown any freckles yet, though it's probably only a matter of time. She's got superwhite and sunburnt down already.

This week another of my genetic quirks appears to have passed on. Allergies. I never had any life threatening allergies. Just the annoying kind. I had environmental allergies to things that included cats and dust (extensions of which were pollen, feathers, flannel, an anything that held dust). Many of my allergies have lessened over the years. When I was a child though, I was often miserable, had an inhaler one year, and when I was old enough popped a lot of over the counter allergy meds.

Lately, Geekling has had an ongoing cough. It seemed to happen mostly in the late evening, during the night, and morning hours. So I took her into the doctor, mostly at TWN's request. The doctor's assessment was that she likely had allergies. Just the same kind I had (dust). We don't have any pets yet to evaluate as possible contributors. The doctor also said to watch for any wheezing as a potential sign of asthma and see if we can associate anything else with increased coughing and such. She said she was reluctant to do anything yet, but if it continued and was problematic, Geekling would get an inhaler of sorts. We have a follow up appt in a month.

So this weekend we cleaned as we had never cleaned before. Oh such cleaning there was! All the layers of dust that had built up over our years of laziness were routed. Cobwebs were decimated, drapery assaulted, carpets drowned and cleaned, and so on. TWN suggests we develop a way to stop shedding skin cells, but this would require moving up the schedule on the mad scientist lair under the house. We will probably choose to rip out the carpet and replace it with hardwood first.

It was tiring work. I remember my mother doing the same thing after I went through a lot of allergy testing. We definitely stirred up some dust though as Geekling's cough worsened and she was sneezing too. I don't know if she'll have to get allergy testing. I had it done when I was in elementary school and it wasn't any fun. I did get finger puppets for each time I went though, which was cooler than stickers.

TWN thought that he heard her wheezing a few times. I'm hoping asthma does not rear it's head. I had a friend when I was growing up that had to wear a mask/inhaler every night before bed due to asthma. Geekling has never shown any extra coughing or wheezing when vigorously exercising. Asthma would definitely put a cramp in her superhero career. She may have to be an evil mastermind after all. I had to confess, there's a certain attraction to being the mother of an evil overlord - think of the perks! Maybe I won't have to learn how to sew with spandex after all...