link dump

[swan_tower]

Two more on gun control:

American gun owners are under siege

The Second Amendment and the fantasy of revolution

Several on gender:

Kickstarter project for another Gamers movie (which is going into this category because of this update)

Rundown on the Readercon debacle

Finding That a "Dynamic" Pose is Defined by Gender (comic books, and not surprising, but the redraws really help hammer the point home)

Victoria's Secret vs. Dove (a very striking contrast)

Just Another Princess Movie (an interesting analysis of Brave, that says it is not just another princess movie)

Awesome photos:

Imgur set

National Geographic set

Music humour:

"Early one day, a C, an E-flat, and a G go into a bar . . ."

The truth about oboes


And now my browser can stop weeping for mercy.

Comments

[jesse bangs (from livejournal.com)]

I actually really like that Daily Kos post about gun ownership, much to my surprise. I clicked through expecting to hate it, but I think that the author gets it mostly right. Most gun owners are about like him, but that form of moderate gun owner is mostly invisible due to the antics of the NRA.

In the Dove vs. VS link, I have to say that I find most of the women in the Dove ad more attractive than the ones in the VS ad. And I actually don't think that this is a very unusual opinion. But, of course, most advertising lives in its own bubble where ordinary opinions of beauty don't matter.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really do think the NRA is a large portion of the problem. The organization, more than the individuals.

The women in the Dove ad seem more attractive to me, too. In part, as one commenter said, because they're smiling and laughing instead of making supercilious faces at the camera.

[jesse bangs (from livejournal.com)]

One thing that occurs to me about the NRA, though, is that almost all successful social movements have both a radical wing and a moderate wing. The existence of the radical wing serves to move the median position to one side, thus making the moderates seem more plausible, all the while giving the moderates someone to point to and say "Well, at least we're not as nutty as those guys".

So perhaps the NRA is filling a necessary role, even from the perspective of a gun-control moderate.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of shifting the Overton window by way of radicalism.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

Wow, the women in the Dove ad have totally flat stomachs, and if they look like they may not, they're hiding them shamefully behind other women. I never noticed this about the real beauty campaign before. Even when I wore a 00, I didn't have a flat stomach. Now I'm feeling all self-conscious out the wazoo.

POINT MISSED. Or maybe the diversity of the Dove ad is still an advertiser's brand of diversity. They're all conventionally beautiful women with a golden ratio body going on.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. They don't all look flat to me, but admittedly, it's hard to tell on the ones facing forward.

You're right, of course, that they're still presenting an ideal, and one a lot of women don't meet. But I still like Dove's campaign as a step in the right direction -- especially since I seem to recall them doing other things to promote good stuff for women, though at the moment I don't remember specifics. They aren't perfect, but I like them better than a lot of other companies out there.

[sarcastibich.livejournal.com]

regarding the article about the next GAMERS movie:

I went to high school with Ben Dobyns. He was a senior when I was a freshman, and we were both in the fall play and spring musical that year. He and a handful of other seniors were the group I referred to as the "cool seniors" back then, because they were awesome people. A couple of them were even the "best couple" their senior year, clearly at the top of the social structure in a school of about two thousand kids. But they weren't the stereotypical "Cool" seniors, they were really awesome and kind and generous people. Involved in theater, band, academic courses...and kind to dweeby little freshman girls like me. And Ben was at the core of that group. I am EXTREMELY pleased to see that he has maintained that level of awesome, aware, considerate, and sense of equality. No way he'll remember me, but I'm so happy that he has gone on to A Big and Better and Happy and Successful Life. As a good person, he deserves it.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

That is awesome to hear.

[pentane.livejournal.com]

Counter point to the KOS article... Mexico.

A series of cartels with assault weapons Eric Holder sold them has done a great job of throwing the country into bloody chaos.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

But Mexico is not the U.S. I'm leery of drawing much in the way of parallels there, given the differences in the two governments, populations, etc.

Which is not to say we couldn't cause chaos here in the U.S., with the guns we have. But the people who talk a bold line in that direction talk about government overthrow, not mere chaos.

[pentane.livejournal.com]

I agree it's not a perfect parallel.

An unarmed population has no chance though.

Also, I'd recommend the last episode of season 1 of "Gangland" (I think it's that one). It shows the gangs putting military training to use against the police. The training is a lot more dangerous than the guns in my opinion.