The rain in Dublin...

...soaks through jackets and jeans. Okay, not so poetic. And, okay, breaking my 'no personal stuff' rule. But that rule was made to be broken.
Hols are great so far (LJ's allergies not withstanding). Hit Killiney beach yesterday and it was lovely and sunny and we paddled and saw jelly fish and had a pub lunch. Today, rain rain rain and we didn't have an umbrella so we legged it to Lush, stocked up on bath bombs, bought soup, sambos,and a chocolate muffin at a lunch joint, hopped a cab and spent the afternoon warming up our insides and outsides before heading out for a curry and pints with a very dear old friend. Tomorrow off to Wexford.
My mental 'to-do' list is getting unwieldy. Top of list is to buy a notebook to keep track of list.

On hols

Rudebarbie is on hols and having a lot of fun, seeing friends, eating curry and spending much-needed time away from theory and the Internet! Back soon!

True Colors

No, I haven't started to drop the 'u'...I just read about the True Colors Tour 2007 which lists Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, The Gossip, Debbie Harry, Dresden Dolls and The Misshapes on the line-up along with the wonderful and hilarious Margaret Cho. From the tour website:

We should all have the right to live with the same dignity, opportunity & safety. It shouldn't matter what anyone's sexual orientation is" - Cyndi Lauper

Of course, it's not coming to Calgary. Toronto is the only Canadian date. Grrr.
Via Margaret Cho's blog.

Akon loses contract over 'simulated rape'

Via TMZ (I know, I don't feel good about my bad habits):

Rapper Akon has been fired by Verizon -- and is being threatened with prosecution -- after he reportedly simulated a rape of a 15-year-old on stage during a concert in Trinidad a few weeks ago.

If you didn't see the video clip when I linked to it before, you can look here. I found it very difficult to watch (NSFW) and I'm really glad that this didn't just blow over. For an artist who has a lot of influence with tweens, teens and women internationally, I really don't know how Gwen Stefani can continue to have this loser on her tour.
It's interesting to read the comments on this latest post on TMZ and the earlier one (with the video clip) from Dlisted. So many people really don't get it, do they? I am really sick of the whole 'well, she was dresssed like blah blah blah', 'asking for it blah blah blah' thing. When will people realize that it is the attacker and not the victim who is responsible?

Silence of the Flumps

Two posts in two days you say. Why, yes of course, I am writing a paper. Why else would I be farting about on the Internet, finding stuff like this?

Where are the women in Heroes?

Heroes is, in many ways, the perfect TV show as far as I am concerned. I loooove superhero stuff, have never really been a comic book fiend (though it could have been an alternate reality) but was a huge fan of Spiderman and his Amazing Friends (here is a clip from 'The Birth of Firestar) and love the X-Men films. Anyway, Heroes has it all: flying, super-strength, mind-reading, healing, invisibility (Christoper Eccleston!), and the best villian I think I've ever seen (Sylar).
But. ***Spoiler Alert - Do not read on if you are not up to date on Heroes (and care)***
The female characters are really thin on the ground and, well, thin. I don't mean skinny (though, come to think of it...) not well-defined, and not very representative. Let's see who we have (and correct me if I've missed anyone or been unfair in my description). There is (and has been) Claire, Jessica/Nikki, Mrs. Petrelli, Candice, Hana, Super-sonic hearing lady, Simone, Charlie, Eden, Parkman's police partner, his wife, and Claire's mother(s). Five of these have been killed (Candice, Simone, Charlie, Eden, and the woman with the hearing power) and four seem to have disappeared from the plot (Parkman's partner and wife, and Claire's mum(s)). Which leaves us with Claire (undeniably cool power, good character development, probably best of all the women so far) who is a teenage girl; Jessica/Nikki who is at this point in the story working as a stripper (the Jessica side of her character - who has the super strength - has been portrayed as strongly sexual as well as violent); Angela Petrelli who is still a somewhat unknown quantity, a matriarchal figure; and Hana (wireless) who has only appeared in two episodes that I can think of and whose character is very underdeveloped at this point. Claire's adoptive mum does not seem to have a power and has been continuously mind-wiped, her real mum (fire starter) has also not appeared for a while and didn't much to begin with; Parkman's partner seems to have disappeared and his wife (who was portrayed as cheating and whining) is now in some kind of protection program. Practically all of the active major characters are men (with the exception of Claire and Jessica/Nikki), and all of the non-super power characters that survive and appear currently are men (Mohinder, Mr Bennet, Ando).
I love this show but it really pisses me off that most of the female characters seem to be either canon fodder, connecting female sexuality with violence and loss of control (Jessica/Nikki is classic Whore/Virgin), befuddled, whiny, or cruel and that the only really strong and important female character is a teenage cheerleader. Now, I love Claire and I love that she's a strong young women and have nothing against cheerleaders but...that's all we get? Simone was the only non-white woman we've seen in the show and she never really existed except as a link between Peter and Issac.
So, in short. I recommend Heroes, and I'm not going to stop watching it. But dayum, we need some more women pronto. And, if the casting director is reading this, I'll be done papers next week and am available for the next season. I'll have flying and super-smarts please! What super power would you like?