There are people you wish you knew long before you met them.

This is especially true of artists, authors, actors (of any gender) and other creative people, who you discover when they're already popular and you work backwards in time to realise that, fuck, they were amazing before you knew them.

That's how I feel about Scott Caan. Really. It's been a thing for months now, I'm not ashamed of this love that I have - I have spent good money on this man and it has been totally worth it.

Reading this article, Stay Gold, about Scott and how he has come to be who he is (which isn't all in there, but hey, not all of it is as pretty as the article makes it out to be) makes me wish I knew him when he was just starting out and seeing him evolve and develop.

Working my way backwards into his work has been super fun and really educational. Because at first I just knew him as James Caan's better looking doppelgänger son.

Now, well, yeah, he's golden.



( Hell yeah there's more! )
Crossposts: http://eumelia.livejournal.com/564155.html

As many of you know I haven't been around much because I have been busy finishing off my degree, working three part times jobs and going to demonstrations to make sure my country doesn't implode on itself.

I did, however, manage to distract myself thoroughly by becoming addicted to a show that should have been the biggest turn off ever.

Because #1 it's a cop buddy show, #2 it's a remake of a classic (so yeah, there was a gender switch of one the mains).

I honestly did not expect to fall so in love with Hawaii Five-0. But even more so, I never expected to fall for head over heels fannishly in love with one Scott Caan. I've known the man for years as a side-actor, more as a "Hey, it's that guy" and as the progeny of one James Caan - who is staple in my House of Cinephiles!

So, once I was lured via picspams (something which never appealed to the feminist in me, because you know, I, er, totally oppose objectification of any kind. Yeah, watch me eat my words) of Scott, I checked out the show and subsequently, Scott himself.

And here I am, posting a picspam of my own. Most likely if you follow Hawaii Five-0 fandom you have seen them all, but these are my favourites for various reasons.

We'll start off with my #1 favourite:


( Way More Under The Cut )

I hope you all enjoyed that. I know I did.

Even if you're not a fan of Hawaii Five-0 and never intend to watch the show, I urge you to check this man out. I'll probably post a review of some of the better movies he's been in; I watched his bad stuff so that you don't have too!

One of the most wonderful things about Swan Lake is the music. Tchaikovsky is my favourite classical composer, and besides the 1812 Overture, very likely his most well known melody is that damn theme:



It was that theme and of course the entire story of the ballet that accompanied the gruesome story of suffering we are put through when we watch Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.

( Cut for spoilers, deep thoughts and possibly scathing reviews )

This post contains spoilers to the Doctor Who episodes: "The Hungry Earth" & "Cold Blood" and "Vincent and the Doctor".

( Mainly for Vincent and the Doctor, though )

A common misconception that is prevalent among the uninformed here and abroad, is that Israel isn't Occupying Gaza any longer because there are no Israel civilian and/or military presence with in the strip.

This is of course, not so, as Israel controls every land border (including the one with Egypt via diplomatic and strategical agreements), no one goes in or out of Gaza via land, sea or air without Israel's say so.

All in the name of "national security" we are told because rockets are being fired into Israel.
For the past two years the blockade has created an alternative economy in the strip, the tunnels which the IAF bombards doesn't only smuggle weapons, nearly a third (as far as I know, I don't have actual numbers) of the products smuggled into Gaza are basic food groups like flour, salt, chickpeas, etc and building material like cement.
Cement, so that people may live in houses.
The weapons are smuggled in because Resistance doesn't stops.
I don't see Israel stopping flying over head showing off their military ability.

I'm mentioning this because a new campaign of Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement shows, through an animated cartoon, the meaning of the Gaza blockade has on the people there who are being collectively punished for the actions of a few.
Closed Zone

Animation by Yoni Goodman (now famous for being the animator for Waltz with Bashir.

Not directly related, but certainly part of the over all reality of these confusing affairs of state; Israel to let more aid into Gaza in gesture to Clinton - god forbid we actually ease the suffering of people for suffering's sake, right?
And Head of Palestinian rights group banned from travelling to accept award - the award is to be given jointly to Al-Haq and B'Tselem, two human rights groups that do their best to show the effects of the Occupation and not keep it silence to the world.
Israel allows no movement and still we think the Palestinians should be grateful for the food and slight wriggle room we bestow upon them.
Yeah, that's reasonable.

I've just come back from a movie.

Probably the most important move I've ever seen (or will see) my whole life.

Memory is something we're told to cherish and hold close to our hearts and to never let go of the memories.
Memories are who we are.

I've just come back from watching a movie.
It's an animated feature.
The genre is slippery; it could be a documentary, a biopic or even just your run of the mill (anti)war movie.
But it's not just any of those things.
It's a movie about what we don't want to deal with.

Waltz with Bashir is a movie about how we remember and don't remember and why.
Knowing the details of Sabra and Shatila, the Phalangists and Israel's own complicity in what happened doesn't prepare you for this fragmented tale of memory and the remembering of memories... not forgotten... just... gone away.

Not coherent I know.

I'm still speechless and weepy.
Remembering my own images of war - which were removed from me by cameras and screens and radio coms - the animation helps to keep the gory details away, just like memory filters away those terrible images and you remember them... but without the impact that will have you shaking and sobbing and vomiting.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to write something that will make sense.
Maybe not.

If it's in a cinema near you... go see it.
Go.
Just... go.

My oh so talented friend daemonfall made not one, not two, but eleven Ironbat icons!!! And he has allowed me to share with you all!

( Nine More! )

Don't forget to credit daemonfall!
And no hot linking!

It's been a while since I wrote a real fangrrl commentary on something fannish. Real life has somewhat taken over, though I'm sure I haven't lost my touch.
I'm sure some of you are aware of this poster going around the Internet, not to mention New York Comic Con:


From left to right Selina Kyle (Catwoman), Barbara gordon (Oracle), Zatanna Zatara (Zatanna), Dinah Lance (Black Canary), Karen Starr (Power Girl), Diana (Wonder Woman), Kara Zor-El (Supergirl), Kate Kane (Batwoman), Mari Jiwe McCabe (Vixen), Pamela Isely (Poison Ivy) and Harleen Quinzel (Harley Quinn).

So what is it that we have here, other than a bunch of attractive women in formal wear?

Personally, there were a few there I couldn't tell the difference between until I really looked for the fine differential details between them all, like the two blonds; one standing next to Wonder Woman and the other standing next to Power Girl.
I mean, from the stance I recognized who Supergirl and who Black Canary were, that and Supergirl is wearing a mini-dress which I suppose alludes to her itty-bitty-titti costume, but I digress.
What is Black Canary's trademark look?

Someone? Anyone?

Friends, where are Ms. Lance's fishnets?
Zatanna, for example, has the hat and gloves, Posion Ivy has, well, ivy in her hair and on her dress and Harley has a Harlequin masque and small pom-poms on the edges of her dress (plus the gigantic smile, which appears diminished in the poster).
So the difference between two of the blonds who aren't really wearing formal wear which either alludes or is recognizable as their suits (mini skirt notwithstanding) is that the other woman in the poster are recognizable with one other exception which I will get to, not to worry.

I like that fact that the villainous/morally ambiguous women were put on the margins, also they are turned away from the other, it's as though Selina is saying "you don't think I'm a superhero, do you?" and she's in black, as though she'd be caught dead in white. Poison Ivy and Harley seem to be reminiscing the old days when they had their own little worrisome two-some that gave Batman a pain in the neck.

Diana is exactly where she should be, dead center looking straight ahead and looking like the goddess she is (while off duty and having cocktails at some UN event being all ambassadory). Diana looks how I would imagine her on Themyscera if she ever got the crown, contemporary and and Grecian style.
Who could mistake Power Girl for anyone else, the in/famous Boob Window... adds character it does.

Oddly, Vixen seems incongruous with the rest of the characters there, there's nothing distinct about her (like Supergirl and Black Canary, but they're standing next to two leading ladies), except her colour, which is an important distinction to make seeing as not too long ago there was a mighty big faux pas with her colour (certain artists made her look Caucasian... yeah), but surely there should be something more. Is that her talisman around her neck? Why not make it bigger an obvious (like the boob window, or the ivy, or the masque, etc.)
What? Did Adam Hughes not want to make Vixen look "Ethnic"? She's from an African Nation, her power is based on the power that a local god bequeathed, why is she so... not there in the poster?
I'm not looking to start a huge brouhaha, but women of colour, marginalised, I don't think I need to say more.

Now, I'm no artist, but I understand composition, when you have a character sitting, it's no good for them to be the only one sitting, especially when they are on the side and not in the middle. Barbara, being who she is, is sitting, in a mighty fine dress I might add, and though she looks like she's about to leap out, it's just a pose. The other elegant lady sitting is Kate Kane, Gotham Socialite, Batwoman and, c'mon you know it, that's right, Lesbian.
No, never would have guessed; the pant suit, the spread legs, it just screams Lezzie.
*sigh*
Pity that in canon she's in the closet (last I checked) and wears dresses to formal affairs.
Give the pant suit to Babs, it's so much more her style.
But then, then people would think she's a Lesbian!

There are two kinds of people who would buy this poster; those who know everything I've mentioned and those who don't care and just like pretty women.

Good poster, some things missing and a few aggravating details that should be fixed, but all in all, a very aesthetically pleasing poster of DC's most powerful women, I wouldn't mind seeing that hanging on my wall.
*HINT-HINT*

Hello f-list.
A friend (daemonfall) chibified me and having much appreciation to the drawing asked him to iconize it!
Which he did.
But he did something extra!



I want to make one of those my default.
So f-list I ask you... which do you like, even though I'll have to chose in the end :D

13:16 Edited to Add: I chose :D

Amnesty International has launched a new ad campaign to raise awareness for the fight against female genital mutilation.
Pandagon and Feministing have already posted about it.
I found the ads very evocative: ( Pictures under the cut )

I think it details the meaningless destruction of something beautiful, without making it look obscene or cliched.

Flowers have more often than not been used to describe or be a euphemism for female genitalia, not just the vagina, but the vulva, the clitoris, the labia majora and minora, and of course we can't not think of famous painter Georgia O'Keef who made famous the use of flowers to describe the beauty and sexuality of female genitalia.

I've heard from people that it is now considered cliche to use flowers as genitalia, but I think in this ad campaign it is used excellently, because the flowers evoke innocence, which is exactly what these (most usually) pre-pubesant girls lose when they are mutilated in such a way.

I'd love to hear what y'all think.