Women In Superhero Movies (Video)

Today I just felt like bitching about Hollywood. 

Tree Climbing and Other Childish Things (Video)

I just felt like acting like a dip-shit today. 

Ant-Man

My mom, my sister, and I went to see Ant-Man today. I'm sure you will all be surprised to hear this, but I loved it! (perhaps I'm not the most objective when it comes to Marvel movies, because I think I say that about all of them but, seriously, this movies was really great.) We ended up being the only three people in the whole theater, which I though was really sad. I mean, I know it's already been out for a while, and we did go to the 3:30 showing, but still, why aren't you going to see this movie, people? Here are the reasons why you should go watch it-

1- Marvel has a rather incredible knack for taking things that should be ridiculous and making them super fucking cool. I mean seriously, anything called "Ant-Man" should be totally stupid right? Wrong!
2- As always, Paul Rudd was fantastic. Also, he obviously put a good bit of effort into getting into superhero-worthy shape.
3- Scott Lang is a really cool and interesting character.
4- Scott's daughter is fucking adorable. For example, at one point he gives her the creepiest looking toy rabbit I have ever seen. To which she replies "He's so ugly! I love him!"
5- We get another badass female character, Hope.
6-  I really liked the ants and the fact that they were, at least to some extent, given distinct personalities. I thought this was great, since a lot of people never think twice about killing ants. According to Evangeline Lilly "You could take all of us out of the movie, and it would still be really kick ass if you had the ants. They’re really the best part of the movie."
7- The big fight scene at the end was both intense and totally hilarious. Giant Thomas the tank engine flying through the air anyone?
8- Falcon has a (somewhat small, but still) part, which made me happy because I loved him in the Winter Soldier.
9- Scott has a circle professional criminal friends, who I found quite endearing. ( I don't know, I have a thing for likable criminals).
10- The post credit scene was weird and confusing (in a good way) and left you with an overwhelming need to see Civil War!

Pretty much my response to the post-credit scene^

Ⓥ Vegan Superheroes

Today, I found some seriously cool vegans that I wanted to tell everyone about. I started out looking for Tim Shieff's Facebook page (the link is actually to his YouTube page, because he has some great videos you should all check out). He is an amazing athlete who often speaks out about veganism and animal rights issues.

Anyway, when I found it, I started scrolling through his feed and found a link to a page run by a friend of his who is a vegan stunt man. It's called We See You, and it's full of beautiful images of farmed animals. The goal of the page is to change the way people perceive these animals.

From there, Facebook recommended that I check out Casey Michaels' page. She is another vegan stunt person and apparently she was actually Scarlet Johansson's stunt double in Age of Ultron. So yeah, the real Black Widow? the one who pulled off all of those amazing moves? Vegan! She was also Hit Girl's double on Kickass 2. Plus, she makes a point to proclaim her veganism on her page by calling herself a "vegan stunt performer."

I am always happy to find any public figures who are vegan, especially when they are as open about why they are vegan, as these people are. I am particularly excited though to find people who also manage to prove that veganism can be an asset to the individual as well as to animals and the planet. These people do things that the average person can't even imagine being able to do, and they do them while maintaining a compassionate lifestyle. These are true superheroes, in every sense of the word! They have skills and abilities far beyond those of regular people and they dedicate themselves to protecting the innocent. What could be more heroic than that?  

Pretty sure that's actually Casey.

Comic Women

I know I pretty much always seem to have a slightly different perspective on feminist issues than pretty much anybody else.....well here's another one. I know a lot of people are pissed off about the way women are portrayed in comics (see the Hawkeye Initiative), and I can see where they're coming from. The truth is though, I kind of love it.

Don't get me wrong, some of the poses are pretty over-the-top, but the fact that there is someplace where women who are strong are also seen as sexy seems like a good thing to me. Yeah, they all wear skimpy little outfits (which is kind of ridiculous) but then again, all the guys wear spandex (which is equally ridiculous). They are also very strong though, like as strong as the guys, and (here's my favorite part!) at least in most cases they are actually drawn to look like they are as strong as they are.

I have always thought that "strong" women in movies and TV tend to not look very strong. The problem is that they are subject to Hollywood's beauty standards and therefore are basically required to be thin and feminine looking. As far as I know, comic are the only place where female characters can not only be as strong as male characters but also actually look as strong as the male characters. Plus, the guys in comics are okay with the women being as strong and muscular as they are, which I don't think happens often anywhere else. So yeah, I think a few dumb looking poses are worth it to have strong women be seen as a good thing.  

Typhoid Mary is crazy as fuck, but she's also really tough and muscular and all the guys are really into her, despite the fact that she's always kicking the shit out of them (at least that's the case in the Deadpool comics I've been reading).

So Cool

A few days ago, I rented The Wolverine from Redbox and today I finally got around to watching it. It was good; I thoroughly enjoyed it. What I enjoyed more though was finding what I think is my new favorite, comic-based, character; Yukio. She is fucking fantastic! Everything about her is just so incredibly badass. First of all, she is an amazing fighter. She saves Logan's ass on multiple occasions. Second, her weapon of choice is a sword, which is definitely what I would choose. Third, she is super brave and not in that "I want to go with you, but then you have to drop what you're doing and come save me when I get in trouble." way that a lot of female characters in these kinds of movies are.

Fourth, she and I have practically the same sense of style. Those boots look just like mine. I had those same socks a few years ago and wore them util there was nothing left of them. I had my hair that color for years, and probably still would if mine didn't fade to obnoxious pink after about a week. I even lover her coat; assuming that's not real sheep, which I'm fairly certain it's not. 

P.S. At the beginning of this movie, Logan gets into a fight with a dumbass hunter who killed his bear friend. This automatically gets it a thumbs up from me. It was still really good after that too though. 

For Other Wannabe Superheroes

I added two utility belts to my shop today. One I'm actually pretty proud of, the other is sort of eh, but oh well. I bought stuff to make more of them, so I intend to have a better variety in the near future. I also officially entered the Sexiest Vegan Next Door Contest, voting hasn't opened yet though. When it does, you guys could, like, go vote for me, and stuff (hint, hint, nudge, nudge). Anyway, here's the belt I like the best.

Not too bad for the second one I ever made, right? Even though I basically just sewed two, already made, things together.  

Now There's an Idea!

I just suddenly remembered that I totally forgot to write a post for today. It's not like I have anything exciting to talk about anyway, but I thought I should get something down here. So here's this. I've been on a serious superhero kick lately. I recently realized that I am just a natural born multitasker and that I have a hard time doing just one thing at a time, especially things that are time consuming and/or difficult. My mind gets bored or frustrated and I just end up giving up on whatever it was that I was trying to do. Well since, lately, I have been trying to teach myself how to do all of these new things, sculpting, drawing, making utility-belts, etc, I've been watching movies to keep my mind occupied whilst I struggle endlessly with the things I'm trying to make. For whatever reason I have been mostly interested in watching superhero movies. I already had some and I bought quite a few more from various discount movie bins. So far it has been working pretty well. I don't even notice that it takes me for-fucking-ever to make really small, unimportant, things. An unfortunate side-effect is that I keep finding myself thinking "Hey, you know what would be a lot more fun than making misshapen mugs? Being a fucking superhero!"

Today I watched Daredevil. I found it fairly enjoyable. Plus, I'm thinking that if you can get superpowers just by going blind.........that one seems kind of feasible for me. Just saying. 

It's Sort of a Niche Market

So you know the weird little belt/purse thing I made? Well, I'm thinking about making some other ones and trying to sell them in my Etsy shop, which will hopefully be up and running again sometime in the near future. You see, before I broke down and made one for myself, I looked everywhere; Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, etc. trying to buy one. Every one I could find was; ridiculously overpriced and/or leather and/or in another country and/or goofy looking. So it seems to me that this country has a serious shortage of cute, affordable, vegan, belt-bag things. Also, apparently these things go by many names, one of which is "utility belt" which is definitely what I am going to call them if I start selling them because.........

Adulthood (Poem)

I am not an adult. I refuse to relinquish my crazy dreams. I'll never abandon my impossible fantasies. I simply cannot concede that my delusions are well.........delusional. I will not accept the inevitability of mediocrity. I believe in the possibility of great and wonderful and terrifying things. More importantly, I believe in my own ability to greet those things with a fierce courage and unstoppable strength. I reserve the right to believe that magic exists and so do superheroes, and that there is still a chance that, someday, I might encounter both. I assert that I am entitled to the occasional temper tantrum, even if I do insist on keeping it at bay until I am alone. I can't help but assign emotions to inanimate objects, though only if the objects seem particularly emotional. I still create stories in my head just like I did when I was a little girl and, though I may no longer act them out physically, much of my life is still spent in those imagined places. The beauty and wonder of those places has led me to view our reality through a film of distaste and defiance, and to ask myself  "Why would anyone want to live here?"