I am a foreigner and an ethnic minority. I spent my entire childhood in the predominantly Asian-ethnic environment of Hawaii. My adulthood has played out so far in predominantly white regions and, within that, extremely white-dominated academic and professional fields; that’s what happens when you get into the humanities. Living among the white people of…
Who Swatches the Swatchmen: How I Swindled Myself Into Buying Makeup Because I Am A Sucker For #Brands
There’s something I find cathartic about putting on makeup every day. I almost never deviate from the ritual of moisturizer, primer, eyebrows, eye shadow, foundation, powder, and blush. It’s more about the routine than the cultivation of a look that I enjoy. It’s “I am going to look this way and this is how.” Aside…
Mod Monetisation in Mundus: Steam Workshop Facilitates Paid Skyrim Mods
The modding community of Skyrim wastes no time. Not even a week went by from when Steam announced they would support non-Valve games having paid mods, starting with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, before they decided to take the feature down. An announcement made on Steam highlights that they realised from customer feedback that it…
One Last Ride: Why Furious 7’s Ending Had Us All In Tears
Who else cried at the end of Furious 7? If you didn’t, I’m guessing you either didn’t see the movie or are an emotionless pod person. For those of you who did cry, how many people laughed or teased you about it? When I returned from seeing Furious 7, eyes still a bit misty, I…
Fail Better: If Irrational Parenting is Wrong, I Don’t Want to be Right
Content Warning: Child Abduction, Fail Parenting, Sickos living closer than you think, Child Endangerment, Drowning Have you ever lost your child in a store? How about a sibling you were in charge of or a child you were babysitting that walked away from you? Can you explain to another human being in simple terms that…
Lest We Forget: Batgirl. Bat GIRL. Bats, Comics, and Girls
Recently, DC Comics started circulating June’s variant covers that feature the Joker across different comic book series. The aim was to celebrate 2015 as the 75th anniversary of the Joker. Only things have gone a little wrong. The art across the covers was pretty great, so it wasn’t that. What DC got wrong was the…
Online Reviews and Trauma a.k.a. Wait, That’s What Rape Looks Like?
Content Warning: This post contains discussion of rape and abuse. The author has chosen to remain anonymous. I was raped fifteen years ago. It wasn’t a vicious scene. I wasn’t attacked by a stranger. I was not drugged. And it took me a decade to recognize it as rape.
TableTop Day: Bringing Board Games to the Streets
International TableTop Day 2015 took place on April 11th. This is a yearly event created in 2013 by Geek and Sundry, the producers of the TableTop web series, to celebrate tabletop gaming in all forms, especially board games. Since then it has continued the profound impact the series has had on board game culture by…
Dividing the Fandom: The Real Problem with the Sad Puppies
On April 4, the 2015 Hugo Award nominees were announced at Norwescon. (Read here for the full list and links). Immediately afterwards, it became apparent to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy world that two affiliated groups, the Sad Puppies and the Rabid Puppies, had organized a bloc vote for their own respective slates of nominees. This isn’t anything…
I Swear To Be Critical
Welcome to Part Two of WWAC’s contribution to our most recent Blog Carnival! Our topic: is there a difference between censures and censors? If so, what? Be sure to check out the accompanying posts from our friends at The Hooded Utilitarian, Panels, Deadshirt, and Paper Droids!
Censoring the World: The Fight to Protect the Innocence of Children
Welcome to Part One of WWAC’s contribution to our most recent Blog Carnival! Our topic: is there a difference between censures and censors? If so, what? Be sure to check out the accompanying posts from our friends at The Hooded Utilitarian, Panels, Deadshirt, and Paper Droids!
Fail Better: On Being Happily Divorced
The first thought I had when my husband of eight months informed me that he had just suddenly stopped loving me and was no longer happy with me and wanted a divorce was “I have to refund all those people who bought us gifts for our wedding.” This seemed a logical thought to me. We…
