Shopfession: More Books and Konmari

I’m really kind of rubbish at this whole not-buying-stuff thing.

BookOutlet.com has a monthly 50/50 special (50 books at an extra 50% off) and my mom told me this month was sci-fi. I did pretty well on that list putting all but one title on my to-borrow list on GoodReads but then I was reminded of my wish list. I decided to remove all future temptation in one go. I gutted the wish list putting almost all of it on my to-borrow list and a few titles I was genuinely excited about in my cart.

It’s Not You: 27 (Wrong) Reasons You’re Single               $4.99

Jane Austen’s Guide to Thrift {oh, the irony}                    $3.99

Joe Golem and the Drowning City                                        $4.99

Lockdown (Escape from the Furnace 1)                               $1.99

Miss Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmas    $3.99

Robert Asprin’s Myth-Quoted                                               $2.99

The Golem and the Jinni                                                         $6.99

Jesus Feminist {I had to know}                                            $6.99

Minus the $5 off coupon and add the $6.99 for shipping it came to $38.91. Not a bad price for that haul but more than I needed to be spending after my Deadpool Corp splurge.

I took myself off the mailing list to avoid temptation and I’ve got limited reason to go back. However I’m not sure if this just reinforces a bad habit rather than removes temptation. I’m trying to save money to move later this year but I’m not doing a very good job.

Another temptation I recently found was a book by the founder of the KonMari method of organizing. The English translation was released this month and it blew up. The biggest shift from American thoughts about organizing are that you should do items by category and go through all of them at once. Want to minimize your closet? Gut it all at once. Cut down on your books? Dump them all in the same place at the same time.

How do you decide what to keep from that category? “Does it spark joy?” If the item doesn’t spark joy, it goes. Simple as that. One person I read said that you need to go with the gut reaction you have in the first 1-3 seconds of looking at the garment. After that you’re just arguing with your instincts. I want to try it but I want to read the book first. That means buying the book. I seriously question if this is the best idea.

A Graphic Year Week 4: Thy Enemy Is Thyself

Working my way through the Minibus brought me next to Deadpool Kills Deadpool. Following the adventures of killing the Marvel universe and great heroes of literature in the multi-verse, Deadpool concludes that he must be the creator of these worlds instead of the inhabitants on the other side of the 4^th wall. Now he makes it his mission to kill all Deadpools to free them from the tyranny of suffering.

I think my favorite random Deadpools were Pandapool (the species that makes you extinct) and Groot Deadpool. Some of the other Deadpools were impressive. I may have to nickname a future pet Dogpool and the robot Deadpool was funny for all 5 panels he was in. It combined the violent insanity that is Deadpool with the philosophical nature that comes from (literally) fighting oneself. I felt like this really hit on the essence of this character.

The only downside is that I discovered a short, out-of-print series of the Deadpool Corp. Since this finally gave me the story on who blonde Deadpool (Wanda Wilson) was, I splurged and bought them. Fun fact, people will charge through the nose on out of print comics. I’m embarrassed to admit what I paid so I’m not going to. I’m not pleased with the amount I spent but I finally get the dish on Wanda and Dogpool so I’ll make my peace when the comics arrive. Next week, Deadpool Kills Carnage.

PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 3 or Evil Comes in Pink

The next check box on the list is a book based entirely on its cover. I went into B&N to find an entirely different book and found a bright cover with and inverted pentagram. Barbie pink and a symbol of evil? Yes, please.

It's the first book of Danielle Vega, a new-ish horror writer. If this is her first full length book, I'm eager to see what she's got coming up next. 

Sofia is new in school (again) and meets local rebel Brooklyn along with the high school’s resident popular girls. Riley and her crew thing Brooklyn is in desperate need of help. What Sofia didn’t realize was that the help Riley planned on giving her was an exorcism. Now she’s trapped in a house and has to try to save Brooklyn, if she can save herself.

You expect this book to start as a typical teen book with a cute boy, popular bitchy girl, and her rebel but it quickly turns into something darker. It presents the question of whether the greatest evil we face is against ourselves. It was very well written and I burned through it very quickly because I wanted to know what happened. Vega created moments when you wondered if there was something greater going on or if Sofia’s mind was reacting to her situation. It was the perfect kind of subtle horror that builds tension.

She warns that it’s for mature audiences only and I’d agree. I’m sure the movie version will wind up rated R. I strongly suspect Vanessa Hudgens will wind up being Sofia. I can live with that as long as they don’t totally whitewash the cast. I pictured Riley as one of the Pretty Little Liars girls. I definitely want to see the film adaptation. January is almost over and I’m 3 books down. I may have to up my game in the coming months if I’m going to finish on time.

Shopfession: Something Tiny and Something Showy

I was bad. There was a crack in the ice of my shopping freeze. I bought a book and tickets.

I procured Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter by Lloyd Kahn. I went to add it to my Powell’s wish list and saw they only had 1 copy left. My lack of impulse control means I bought it. With shipping and paying full price, I spent a grand total of $22.49. I love seeing the inside of tiny houses and it’s supposed to have a lot of photos. It feeds my desire to see how other people live and lay out their spaces but also how to make the most of a little space. Tiny houses are a little extreme for me but I’m not a Rockefeller so if/when I buy a house, it won’t be huge.

I also bought tickets to a live Welcome to Night Vale show. It's touring through DC at the end of March. It's on Saturday night a few weeks after my birthday. I bought myself tickets as a birthday present to myself and was promptly shafted a $17 processing fee to print tickets at home. At least this one was on an experience I can share with someone. So much for being good until April.

I have an update on my ModCloth dress. It wasn’t the forgiving jersey cotton I was expecting. It turned out to be more of a stiff poplin so I put in to exchange it for what should be the right size. We’ll see what happens.

A Festival and a Shopfession

MAGFest was last weekend. As I predicted, I was bad with my shopping freeze. How bad you ask?

-Sparkly purple dice for upcoming Pathfinder campaign + two 6 sided dice        $14

-Super Art Fight program (autographed by several featured artists at con)                     $15

-Portal Tee with Cave Johnson’s rant about lemons                       $20

-Plush puppy cow (created by a Super Art Fight artist)     $10

-Mystery box (I kept the hairbow and candy)                                 $5

-Several charms (made by Super Art Fight artist)               $24

-‘Don’t Panic’ hand towel                 $14

-Fabric bracelets                                 $2

That equals a grand total of $104 spent at this con. I kept getting dragged into the dealer’s room where it’s hard not to spend money. I got a great birthday gift idea for The Boy but I spent way too much time around temptation. On the plus side, most of what I spent was cash instead of charging it so no interest. I was also putting money toward local artisans instead of some massive corporation.

I have no guilt over any of my Super Art Fight Artisan purchases. It’s one of my favorite things about some of these cons and all the stuff I’ve seen has been great. I’ve even turned some of my friends into big fans. Most of the folks I saw were small entrepreneurs making some really great niche products like the customized nerd towels. I have a birthday coming up in about a month and no major cons again until April so I should do better in February.

It was interesting to speak to one of the artists having just finished New Domesticity. She just quit her ‘real’ job to go full time at her crocheted coolness. It sounded like her husband still had the standard gig but she’s in such demand that she won’t need him nearly as much as some of the moms in Matchar’s book. 

Craftigurumi is doing so well that when I inquired about a custom order she said she probably wouldn’t get to it until March. Her impressive work ethic combined with her unique material and consistent con presence should keep her business booming for quite a while. She said she crochets at about 3 feet per hour for the scarves and she’s doing it for about 8 hours a day. I recommended 4 podcasts I absolutely love since she listens to TV a lot.

The con itself was great. Most of my friends were there and I got to see all of them for at least a little bit. I played my favorite arcade game, saved the earth from aliens with The Boy, checked out some indie games, and sat in on a panel about Girls in Geekdom. This con is always fun but this year it was especially great. Being with friends really just made the con for me.

I did a Con Bingo list of all the crazy costumes I saw. I was able to check off:

-A furry

-A brony

-A punny costume (Teenage Mutant Ninja Bros)

-The Doctor (4, 6, 7, 11)

-A member of the Disney Princess franchise (4 total)

-Guy with a Japanese body pillow

-Person on stilts (full Groot costume)

-At least 3 Deadpools or one with a twist (2 with twists, 2 women, and at least 2 standard)

-A pregnant woman who worked her pregnancy into the costume (Season 1 Khalessi)

-Unnecessarily slutty costume (Charmander)

-Waldo & Carmen San Diego (separate counts but bonus points if they’re together)

-A crazy expensive screen accurate costume (Master Chief)

-Gender bent costume (Princess Peach followed by Ash from Pokemon)

I missed:

-Man in anime girl outfit

-Hot guy in shirtless costume to show off abs

I found a few different cartoons that I might have to adjust and make an actual Con Bingo for my friends and I for Awesome Con in a few months.

2015 PopSugar Reading Challenge: Book 2 or a Farmer and a Domestic

For nonfiction I read New Domesticity by Emily Matchar. It started with an article she wrote about the popularity of Mormon mommy bloggers and turned into a book about a growing cultural phenomenon. A lot of women are going country, keeping it simple, and blogging about it. 

One of the points Matchar made that I really enjoyed was how much money some of these women make of their blogs. Most of their devoted followers don’t realize the ad space sold or product placement deals made. It’s also an obvious outlet for mom to connect to other adults and get validation. Part of Betty Freidan’s feminine mystique was the lack of solidarity and stimulation those women faced.

The problem with blogging is that we never seen the first attempt at a recipe that looked awful, tasted worse, and made the kitchen look like a disaster. Everyday women are comparing their private life with the public life these women choose to share. While I think it’s great more people are getting into the ‘lost’ domestic arts, we can’t measure our attempts to someone else’s portrayal of perfection.

One of the things that ground my gears was all of these homesteaders saying how “feminist” it was to opt out of the work place. I’ll readily agree that the modern American workplace is not kind to mothers. In the DC area, daycare costs can run as much as $1,600 a month. Combine that with hesitancy to promote “undedicated” mothers and a recession making raises a rarity and women have a reason to opt out. Staying at home might be different or even radical but running away from the problem is not a feminist solution. It just lowers the glass ceiling for the rest of us. It’s a man’s world but a feminist solution would be to try to make the workplace less hostile for working parents and stop this BS discrimination on women who dare have children. 

One of my favorite points that Matchar made was that almost all of the women who weren’t working were depending on someone else’s income. Many survived on their partner’s salary or made very risky decisions. One family skipped health insurance while another opted not to give their children a college fund. 

Skipping vaccinations because a deeply Christian Dr. Sears says mommy knows best is irresponsible and dangerous, as evidenced by the measles outbreak at Disneyland. One burst appendix or outbreak of measles and you have a very deep financial hole. The most extreme example of ‘mommy knows best’ was from Parenting magazine. An HIV positive mother who didn’t believe HIV caused AIDS and happily breastfed her baby. They were both dead from AIDS within a few years.

Matchar did an entire section on how some people are leaning so far left they’re in line with the extreme right. Attachment parenting and homeschooling might suit women once they’ve left the stimulation of the workplace but what about once they’re kids hit adolescence and want to go to public school? Will they be prepared socially? What will mom do once her primary source of identity wants independence? People have to make decisions about what best suits their family but we should stop glamourizing such extremes.

There’s a big difference between a hipster mom taking a few years off and starting an Etsy shop for her knitting to make extra money and another mother quitting the modern world (health insurance and all) to get back to what’s “natural.” Hemlock is natural but that doesn’t make it inherently good. 

The hippies of the 1960’s eventually simmered and I suspect this will as well. Living in a viral world lets this spread far and wide very readily but I think 10 years from now it will balance out. Right now the trend is still growing and will be interesting to watch what happens.

Legging-Gate

The world is once again atwitter with something a blogger has to say. This time it’s an Oregon mom and her decision to abstain from leggings. Frankly, I don’t see what the fuss is about.

Partridge says at the very beginning of her blog post that she’s not trying to tell anyone else what to do. This is her story behind her choice. She is a Christian woman blogging about her life as a wife and mother and her relationship with God. No one should be surprised that modesty matters to this woman.

Her husband says what other men have been saying for years. Yes, certain individuals will stare regardless and Partridges acknowledges she can’t control that. She is just adjusting her wardrobe decisions so that she’s more comfortable.

I’m a liberal feminist but I kind of agree with her. I have always found the leggings as pants trend tacky because I'm not interested in your secret Victoria. There are some details I don't want or need about random women shopping at Trader Joe's. 

I have a pair of fleece lined leggings that are one step away from tights. Very little is left to the imagination. My personal rule is that if I’m wearing leggings, I must be able to cover up any potential camel toe.

Yoga pants can be better than leggings but it depends on the fit. Again, I tend to wear longer shirts when I’m rocking my track or yoga pants. It’s a more flattering cut for me and it’s what I’m comfortable with. Partridge isn’t deliberately shaming anyone and neither am I. We both have opinions on this trend and have adjusted our wardrobe accordingly.

It’s not just Partridge feeling the backlash about tamer wardrobe decisions. Taylor Swift embraces crop tops and shows a bit of stomach and everyone is clamoring about her belly button. It’s a bigger deal that Taylor Swift isn’t flashing more skin than Ariana Grande’s disinterest in performing in pants. How about we do a news story about why women choosing a bit of modesty is such a big frakking deal?

The feminist issue that comes into play is respecting women's decisions about their bodies. Both Partridge and I agree on this particular issue for somewhat different reasons but I understand her reasons and respect them. 

It's her body and her choice and she has not presented this in any other way. If you feel judged or shamed by what she or I are saying, that says more about you and your own insecurities than it does about us.

Why Scott Aaronson Was His Own Biggest Problem

The internet is blowing up with one mathematician, Scott Aarongson, explaining why he dislikes feminism and doesn't have any privilege as a white male nerd. A lot of people have a lot of different theories but a friend asked my thoughts on this one.

One of my favorite quotes from the article was: "Guys deal with Women in the abstract, as a category; women deal with specific men who physically threaten them " Aaronson was so wrapped up in his own personal anxiety that he failed to see any woman as a person. 

The more isolated be became in his own mind, the worse it got. It was all in his head and a lot of shy nerds are like that. If you approach a woman as just another human being to talk to, you'll be fine but you have to get out of your own way long enough to do that. 

Another problem was Aaronson's exposure to feminism. He opted for the extremes so the only version of feminism he got was the most militant stereotype so many of us aren't. He was, somewhat masochistically, choosing to hear one version of feminism that already reinforced the negative voice in his head.

The privilege he couldn't see would be going to STEM conferences and not worrying about sexual assault. His privilege of being taken seriously be sheer virtue in his field instead of being dismissed or second guessed. If Aaronson was sexually harassed at work, he'd be believed when he reported it instead of being questioned or told to simply deal. He will never have to worry about a colleague feeling entitled to his body.

Aaronson and others like him was so wrapped up in his own pain and suffering that he forgot other people are fighting a hard battle as well. He couldn't escape his own head long enough to understand that his personal issues aren't the concern of the world. Everyone else can't fix problems that exist in your own mind. Most people won't even know they exist. That's the beauty of depression and anxiety.

The bottom line is that your mental problems are just that, your problem. No one can fix them but you. There are people out there who can help but you have to be brave enough to ask. As someone with depression, it's a hard thing to do but it's worth it.

You'll have to excuse feminism and women for focusing on problems that directly effect a lot of women. Harassment of women in STEM fields is a real issue happening right now. Not all nerds have anxiety or like to pretend their awkward because it lets them get away with things but far too many do. Feminism is going to focus on making the STEM community better for all people instead of hold the hands of a few nerds with emotional baggage. 

Adjusting My Comsumption

Opting out of consumer culture is harder than I thought. I’ve got my first convention of the year coming up this weekend so I went to the grocery store to get some snacks. In addition to the veggie sticks The Boy likes, I also grabbed some sweet potato sticks to try which were not on the list. Also not on the list was the Red Lobster biscuit mix. It was on an endcap and on sale 2 for $5. Normally I can resist stuff like that but even from a box those are delicious.

My other impulse purchases were practical stuff that just didn’t make the list like tissues and dental floss. Nothing too bad but there was definitely the sense on “What did I spend all that on again?” I had dinner with my mom on Saturday and we went past Torrid and I had a hard time stopping myself from not going in and looking around. I kept reminding myself that I didn’t need anything. Logically I know my brain craves the happy chemical rush that comes with getting something new, especially for a deal. Logically understanding the craving doesn’t make the craving go away.

More than one minimalist person said that it’s hardest for the first few months and then the urge to shop and acquire fades away. I haven’t been a model citizen but both of my slips weren’t without reason. ModCloth happened because I ordered something that didn’t fit right and am waiting to exchange it. Amazon happened because I wanted free shipping and got things that weren’t just for me. At least food impulse purchases result in an experience. It’s been psychologically proven that experiences, especially with other people, are some of the happiest ways to spend your money.

Speaking of happy money, I officially own my car. It is completely paid off and 100% mine. I need to handle some paperwork but it’s mine all mine. Instead of splitting money between the car and credit card, I was able to do a big fat payment on my credit card. It was a bit higher than I’d like because I ordered a bunch of my cosplay stuff at the end of December. Let’s hope experiences and low debt make not shopping worth it.

A Graphic Year, Week 3: Deadpool Gets Classic

Deadpool Killustrated comes right on the heels of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe. Unleashed into the multiverse, he finds and kills several Marvel universes to no avail. He is still undoing the work of his puppet masters everywhere he goes so he finds the sources of those stories. After entering the classics, Deadpool makes quick work of several classics but his actions cause that world to change in ways no one expected.

There is a great deal of truth in the idea that all of our modern hero stories stem from classic heroes like Beowulf or Captain Ahab. The art did a great job of showing the modern heroes inspired by the classics like Black Widow and Elektra coming from Little Women or Namor the Sub-Mariner coming from a mermaid. 

The hardest classic for me to watch go was The Jungle Book. I love anthropomorphic animals. Blame Disney. But the classics did not lay down and die. Sherlock Holmes was warned of Deadpool’s mission and proved a worthy adversary. 

Without delving too deep into spoilers, I liked the note this ended on. It wasn’t clear if everything could be fixed but it wasn’t without hope. There were some excellent twists and turns in this story and it gave Deadpool a lot of depth. I’m curious to see what happens when his greatest foe is himself.

New Music: Title

My new album for January was Meghan Trainor’s Title. After her fantastic songs All about that Bass, Title, Dear Future Husband, and Your Lips Are Movin, I was really stoked for her album. Unfortunately, the best has already been heard.

Mr. Almost and Walkashame were fun (although I got sick of hearing her say her daddy knows she’s a good girl) but most of the other songs are forgettable. Overall it’s fun but all of her best stuff dropped before the album did. Plus Trainor has a repetitive style of song with a strong consistency of her ‘retro made new’ sound made the album feel redundant at times.

Title is an album for the digital age. It has a lot of great singles that sound unique until you hear the same thing 12 times in a row. It works best split onto playlists and shuffled with other songs. 

Kesha is a good example of the repetitive lyric and song style but messes with different beats, mixes, and several other elements to make her songs different from each other. Trainor needs to experiment with different elements in her songs more to keep her songs from bleeding together. 

I look forward to what Trainor will do in the future and I'll keep rocking the best of her current efforts.

A Graphic Year, Week 2: Deadpool Gets Graphic

I took my sweet time getting into any hero comics and the first hero that spoke to me was Deadpool. Most superheroes feel overdone so it took me a while to come around. When I did, I went straight for the Merc with the Mouth. Superman was such a boy scout, Batman seemed rather one note from a distance, and I didn’t like the new 52’s Wonder Woman. Deadpool was on whatever side was paying him and had enough one liners to keep it interesting.

                                                      

I got the Deadpool Minibus for Christmas and the first book in it is Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe. When I said it was going to be a graphic year, I wasn’t kidding. Using the traditional Deadpool style of multiple voices in different voice box styles, we see the arguments in his head. The X-Men bring Deadpool in to a new doctor to be treated. This doctor turns out to be Psycho Man who is not trying to better criminals; he’s trying to wipe their minds to make them his puppets in an army.

As he starts killing off Deadpool’s voices one by one, one voice remains and fights back. The red voice box was what made Deadpool such an efficient killer and Psycho Man removed the noise that kept Deadpool from seeing what was really there. In purging the world of its superheroes and villains, Deadpool will finally stop the madness that plagues the entire Marvel world.

It was obviously violent but the manner red voice Deadpool kills off his enemies and debates with himself was incredibly interesting. The red voice is cold, calculating, and intelligent. Normally written as a loveable, murderous goof, it’s interesting to see the character as intelligent and ruthless. Some of the ways he comes up with to execute his opponents is ingenious. I think my favorite death was Professor X. I won’t spoil anything but I will say it was rather unexpected.

2015 PopSugar Reading Challenge: Book 1

Crossing my first book off the challenge. I read Silent Stars Go By by Dan Abnett, part of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary book collection. I like the choice of villain. Instead of being your standard lawful evil of Daleks and Cybermen, the Ice Warriors were a bit more neutral. 

As a fan of the new series, I'd never encountered them before and found them to be fairly interesting. As a past friend and foe of the Doctor, they were a wild card. The Doctor tried appealing to their idea of honor which is not something you see with a lot of his enemies. Empathy and humanity, yes. Honor? A pleasant rarity.

The book had a bit more freedom in creating other creatures and locations which I always enjoy. Live action TV has a lot of restrictions on locations and aliens that they can make look realistic. I like it when the books embrace their freedom and make things a little weird. 

The story read like a standard episode (perhaps a two part tale for length) with running, enemies, and humans who need help. If you miss 11 and the Ponds, you'll like this story.

Shopfession: News Dress

I feel like this one is kinda sorta but I’m acquiring something new so I’m counting it. I ordered a sweater on sale from ModCloth that I thought would be great for work that was on sale, the last one, and in my size. In addition to suboptimal impulse control, it’s hard to pass up those circumstances. When I finally got it, it didn’t fit quite right. Since I’m trying to limit the number of things I’m adding to my collection of stuff, anything I keep has to be really special.

My options for returning it were to get back what I spent minus return shipping or have ModCloth pay for return shipping and reimburse me what I spent in store credit plus $5. Guess what I did? I had to wait until my item went back to the warehouse and was processed. That took a while but I got my credit today and it went to their Start Spreading The Pooch Dress.

Normally I'd never buy something this overpriced but my store credit will be completely killed off and it makes what's left on the tab reasonable. I ordered it a little small so it will wear like a long tank top rather than a dress. I did this with another Doctor Who dress and it works pretty well. I can wear it to work, on a Friday, maybe. 

I poked around the site but only one thing didn’t seem grossly overpriced. I just had a feeling if I got it I’d be doing this all over again in a month or two when I finally got it. Better to end the cycle before it begins.

Shopfession: Daria & Grumpy Cat

January hasn’t even hit double digits and I’ve got my first Shopfession. To be fair, this wasn’t solely for me.

The Boy and I like watching 30 minute shows together. Previously it was The Big Bang Theory through season 6. Now it’s Scooby-Doo Mysteries Incorporated. Since Scooby only ran for 2 seasons, we started talking about our next short show. We’d watched Daria with some friends of ours on Saturday and thought that would be a good idea. 

The entire series was $13 on Amazon. Since I needed to get his Valentine’s Day presents anyway, I threw in Daria: The Complete Series and Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever to get free shipping. GCWCE was funny and not nearly as stupid as half the movies you see on Hallmark and ABC Family this time of year. Tell me GCWCE is worse than Holiday in Handcuffs and mean it. I thought so.

Combined this frivolous spending rings in at $22.98 before taxes. Amazon has a warehouse in Maryland and Virginia now so there’s no escaping it. I could do worse but I need to try to do better.

Music: Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon

The Feminist Prepares for The Bachelor

A new episode of The Bachelor premieres tonight. This can only mean one thing: I’ll be live texting it with my BFF. My texts will consist of comments of how contrived something is, feminist snark, and the occasional ‘d’aw.’ Since the latest portrait of white hotness is a farmer, I’m sure we’ll have a few ‘aw shucks’ and hilarious fish out of water moments.

Later this year when the next Bachelorette is determined from Hot McDonald’s castoffs, I want to host a watch party with shot glasses full of water and juice (it does air on Mondays folks) and bite size snacks that must be consumed every time a key word or phrase is uttered. I’d probably only pick about 6 key phrases to avoid any complications. I got the idea from Jennifer Pozner’s Reality Bites Back.

-Princess

-Prince Charming

-Fairytale

-Cinderella

-Magical

-{Any other Disney princess mentioned by name or movie}

-Happily Ever After

-Wedding

-Marriage

-(I want) kids

-I want a family

-I’m (falling) in love
-Soulmate

-Engaged

-Fiancé
-Wife/Husband

-I didn’t come here to make friends

-“She’s a bitch” or “He’s an ass/jerk”

-(S)He’s not here for the right reasons

-{Any mention of racial differences, generally void 1/3 through the season}

-{Anyone gets sloppy drunk}

-{Anyone crashes someone else’s one on one time}

-{Any time a contender sneaks the protagonist away for stolen one on one time}

This world needs more conscious media consumption. Rarely is it mention how incredibly white The Bachelor(ette) franchise is. Andi Dorfman caused a splash because she was the first Jew. How white does a show have to be for Judaism to be exotic? 

I think Andi also had someone not white in the running for longer than average. I don’t know if the show is picking a primarily white mating pool it needs a more realistic distribution of color.

Also, almost no one realizes how totally isolated those women are. Between Melissa Rycroft Strickland’s book and pieces of Courtney Robertson’s book, you realize the women aren’t allowed cameras, iPods, iPhones, TV, internet, books, crossword puzzles, laptops, tablets, magazines, newspapers, or any other form of entertainment. I doubt they’d even get a Rubik’s cube lest ABC have to pay for licensing. I think the reason the women get so competitive over the dates is so they finally have something to do.

Under normal circumstances, this is a recipe for Stockholm Syndrome. Within the confines of reality TV, this is a recipe for drama and ratings. The reason so many of these relationships fail is because no one in them has had any exposure to real life stresses and distractions. You can’t get an idea of what a person is really like in a beautiful location with no outside influences. How else will you know if he thinks Rush Limbaugh has a point, she gets major road rage, or one of you is scared of frogs? All the show really teaches anyone is who cleans up nice, who plays well with others, and who is an ugly crier.

Still, it will be fun throwing snark about with someone is more sweet minded. It was least season.

A Graphic Year Week 1

I decided to start my graphic year with a recent title from an old favorite. I read a ton of Archie comics when I was a kid and came back to them as an adult. I kicked off my graphic year with The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats.

This shows what would happen if Archie fell in love and married Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats. It was very similar to the first story where Archie marries Betty or Veronica. We got to see what happens in both worlds in the traditional PG way of Archie. Rather than have a career in business or teaching, Valerie leads Archie and the others on the paths to music.

One of the things that felt quintessentially Riverdale was that both interracial relationships in the story were not a cause for any drama. Archie and company treated them the way the rest of the world should: like any other relationship. It may be wholesome and campy, but I'll always love the acceptance of Riverdale.

In the event there are any sticklers out there, I did read something between January 1-3. I read the second half of Deadpool by Posehn & Duggan, Vol. 1. It’s the first two trades in their series with Deadpool. Despite the first trade having Deadpool fight undead presidents, this story was darker and showed the harsh reality of his mercenary work. It also managed to humanize Deadpool while he was doing a demon’s dirty work. 

I’m very curious to see where the rest of the series will go. I know Deadpool gets married so I’m looking forward to seeing that happen. It may take a minute since I'm on a shopping freeze and my library's graphic novel section is rather limited.

That's Week 1 down. I've got an interesting idea for Week 2...

New Year, New Music

I have been using Viggle* to acquire points but they haven't had any rewards I've wanted, until now. Instead of using iTunes gift cards, Viggle created their own music store where you can redeem points for songs and albums. They email you a link and you download the MP3s. The system isn't perfect since they don't have some of the content I want but I was able to find more than a few things.

On New Year's Day a friend posted about a band on Facebook. I looked them up, thought they sounded interesting, and downloaded the album off Viggle. It was the first day of my new shopping freeze and one of the first things in my morning but I'm holding myself accountable.

I already have an album pre-ordered for January so I won't be buying any new music until March. Since I've required myself to wait on all new music purchases, this will give me a chance to get excited about getting Abney Park's new album for my birthday. Stars in Stereo and Meghan Trainor should keep in in fresh tunes until then.

*-In case you missed my blog from 2013, Viggle is an app that gives you points for watching TV or matching songs. It is 100 points per song and 1 point per minute of TV. Certain TV shows or specials will have a watch bonus. You redeem the points for stuff like a blender, headphones, music, gift cards, etc. in their reward center.