Category: General

characterlikeme:

thepoliticalnotebook:

@vox takes on the trope of the hypercompetent female sidekick. You know her – the one who’s the smartest, toughest and most capable yet ends up being rescued by the less talented, but extremely straight, white, cisgender and male hero. 

This intersects well with discussions about the pay gap and obstacles women face in their careers. For those of us who aren’t straight white cisgender men – the persistence of being typecast as not-the-hero (or the boss, or the leader, or the expert commenter) despite qualifications, talents and capabilities is a lived reality. 

Article is here: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/18/11433378/heroes-female-sidekicks

Images: Table stating which character is most competent, who gets captured, and who saves the day. Examples included are:

• Quentin and Alice from The Magicians (2015 tv adaptation), 
• Peter/Star Lord and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014),
•  Emmet and WyldStyle from The Lego Movie (2014), 
• Harry and Hermione from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets(2002), 
• Neo and Trinity from The Matrix (1999), 
• The Inspector and Penny from Inspector Gadget (1983), 
• Luke and Leia from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

 In every example, the male character saves the day, while the female character is more competent and gets captured.

The text in the image beneath the table is an excerpt from the article that reads:

The trope is part of the double-edged sword of our very, very slow crawl toward telling more diverse stories across all forms of media. Culturally, we’ve begun to realize that it might be a good idea to expand our focus to include more than straight white cis men — but even as we begin to include more women and queer people and people of color and trans people in our stories, we continue to overwhelmingly reserve the hero role for straight white cis men. Everyone else is relegated to supporting roles.

(This, incidentally, is part of why so many lesbians and people of color die on TV: We’re creating more roles for them, but not necessarily hero roles. Supporting roles. Disposable roles.)

darkestporcelaingod:

taste-is-sweet:

pomegranateandivy:

canisfamiliaris:

gamzees-hole:

razzretina:

sarahsellaphix:

officialgarrusvakarian:

we-are-star-stuff:

zerostatereflex:

An Octopus unscrewing a lid from the inside.

Octopuses are going to kill us all someday

I had a biology teacher that told us this story about an octopus at an aquarium in Australia. The staff were concerned because their population of crustaceans kept disappearing. No bodies or anything. So they checked the video feed to find out what’s up.

Across from the the crustacean tank was a small octopus tank. This little fucker squeezed out of a tiny hole at the top of his tank, walk across the hall, and get into the crustacean tank. He would then hunt and eat. After he was done, he crawled back out and get back in his tank

Here’s the kicker: security guards patrolled the area. The staff realized that the octopus had memorized the security’s routine. It would escape and be back between the guards’ round.

My friend who worked at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska had a similar story.  Rare fish were disappearing, they suspected theft, and so set up a camera. An octopus was unlocking the top of its tank, walking across the suspended walkway, unlocking the other tank, eating his fill, re-locking the other tank, then re-locking its own tank.

I can’t remember what zoo this happened at, but there was another octopus somewhere who was unscrewing a water valve in the room where its tank was located and routinely flooding the place. The staffers had no idea what it was until they filmed the octopus caught in the act.

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!! But, sir, it has already released itself!

Octopus Steals Video Camera, Films Own Escape

Octopus Escapes from Tank to Prowl on its Neighbors

Octopus Escape — 600-pound (272-kilogram) octopus wriggles through a passageway the size of a quarter

Legging It: Evasive Octopus Has Been Allowed to Look for Love

Octopus Escapes through Small Hole in Ship

My dad worked in a lab and one of the rooms had a tank with an octopus in it. If they didn’t go play with the octopus he got bored and would climb out of his tank and steal the paperwork off the desks, and drag stuff into his tank to let the scientists know he was upset with them.

Octopus urban legends.

Davy Jones is the real deal

micdotcom:

After news broke Wednesday that five of the biggest banks in the nation were still “too big to fail,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren is once again sounding the alarm about the scourge on our system. In a Facebook post, Warren called out those who have tried to deflect the blame and pointed to a new "giant, flashing" warning sign.”