Last AirBender, Book Rec's, and links...
Jul. 11th, 2020 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Okay, I'm admittedly a little shallow...but I really liked how they drew the character of Jett and the animation for that episode was beautiful. This was I think the 10th episode of the first season of Avatar: The Last Air Bender.
Although the point of the episode was to give Katara's brother Zuku some agency - and a little more depth, than pointless sidekick and damsel, who keeps claiming to be a warrior but just gets knocked down, taken hostage, or thrown around. The fact that he's made it this far - makes me think his super-power is invulnerability.
Jett - is the best drawn of the characters I've seen to date, along with his gang. Jett and his gang reminded me more of anime - specifically Cowboy Bepop, Jett looks a lot like Bepob. (I love anime. It's kind of ruined me, actually, for other forms of animation. I've been known to binge on it.)
2. Also went on a book buying spree - I really should actually finish the book I'm currently reading prior to buying more. I blame Smartbitches, which I should stop following - but I can't get myself to do so...
Books bought? Ah.
* What's Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She by Dennis Baron
Like trigger warnings and gender-neutral bathrooms, pronouns are sparking a national debate, prompting new policies in schools, workplaces, even prisons, about what pronouns to use. Colleges ask students to declare their pronouns along with their majors; corporate conferences print name tags with space to add pronouns; email signatures sport pronouns along with names and titles. Far more than a by-product of the culture wars, gender-neutral pronouns are, however, nothing new. Pioneering linguist Dennis Baron puts them in historical context, noting that Shakespeare used singular-they; women invoked the generic use of he to assert the right to vote (while those opposed to women’s rights invoked the same word to assert that he did not include she); and people have been coining new gender pronouns, not just hir and zie, for centuries. Based on Baron’s own empirical research, What’s Your Pronoun? chronicles the story of the role pronouns have played—and continue to play—in establishing both our rights and our identities. It is an essential work in understanding how twenty-first-century culture has evolved.
I'm trying to wrap my head around it. My church has embraced it completely. This looks like a good way to understand it. And the book was marked down to $3.99 on Kindle.
* Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski
An essential exploration of why and how women’s sexuality works—based on groundbreaking research and brain science—that will radically transform your sex life into one filled with confidence and joy.
Researchers have spent the last decade trying to develop a “pink pill” for women to function like Viagra does for men. So where is it? Well, for reasons this book makes crystal clear, that pill will never be the answer—but as a result of the research that’s gone into it, scientists in the last few years have learned more about how women’s sexuality works than we ever thought possible, and Come as You Are explains it all.
The first lesson in this essential, transformative book by Dr. Emily Nagoski is that every woman has her own unique sexuality, like a fingerprint, and that women vary more than men in our anatomy, our sexual response mechanisms, and the way our bodies respond to the sexual world. So we never need to judge ourselves based on others’ experiences. Because women vary, and that’s normal.
Second lesson: sex happens in a context. And all the complications of everyday life influence the context surrounding a woman’s arousal, desire, and orgasm.
Cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines tells us that the most important factor for women in creating and sustaining a fulfilling sex life, is not what you do in bed or how you do it, but how you feel about it. Which means that stress, mood, trust, and body image are not peripheral factors in a woman’s sexual wellbeing; they are central to it. Once you understand these factors, and how to influence them, you can create for yourself better sex and more profound pleasure than you ever thought possible.
The description sold me, along with the sample. Most books about women's sexuality seem to generalize - this one doesn't. Also it makes a very strong point about how you can't tell someone is a virgin - that the hymen is an area that can heal and doesn't stay torn on everyone, and that there isn't always bleeding. Which I found fascinating, when I skimmed the sample. There's a lot of misinformation and myths out there about female sexuality. Bonus? It gave me a free credit. (Whether I actually read it or not is another issue.)
* Or What You Will by Jo Walton - this is a fantasy novel about a fictional character who fears dying when his author dies. He'll be stuck in her skull. So he's trying to convince her to put them both into her next book so they can survive.
Sounds fascinating, and I find Walton to be an interesting fantasy writer.
So, we'll see.
Meanwhile flirting with Jim Butcher's to be released Peace Talks - it's out on Kindle on July 14, but it is frigging $14.99 which is pricey for Kindle. OTOH, Dresden Novels tend to be things I've bought in hard cover.
I like the characters and the writing style. (Only the Dresden novels, I don't like anything else the writer writes and I'm not overly crazy about the writer himself, but I like the Dresden files.)
3. Cognitive Dissonance...and how to enjoy and care for people who have political views that make me crazy or are offensive.
I've learned in life that people aren't one thing and can't be judged on one thing. I have co-workers, who I know are lovely people and I've seen help others - whose views on homosexuality, transgender, and race make me cringe.
While I've met very liberal people, including a man who was my boss, who were horrific - the man who was my boss at dead evil library company, was gaslighting me, a serial bully, and a narcissist. But hey, he was very liberal in regards to politics.
It makes life interesting.
This is kind of preamble to dealing with writers, actors, directors, and artists whose work you love but some of their personal views make you want to run away screaming - or you are diametrically opposed to them. Not to mention some who have done things that...hmmm, make you want to run in the opposite direction screaming.
I think I can continue to enjoy their works, and to a degree separate the work from the writer. In a lot of cases, the works are largely collaborative efforts and this makes it easier. In the cases in which they aren't? I have found things of value in the works, also, people are flawed. They aren't one thing. I have had racist family members - who were also kind and loving.
And I know Trump supporters, who are kind and loving. One woman that I know of, who is a Trump supporter and alt-right, goes out of her way to rescue domestic animals. She volunteers at shelters, she goes to natural disaster sites and rescues the animals. And she helped me get the job that I currently have. Cognitive Dissonance.
Same with various writers, etc.
That said, there are a few that I've swung away from, mainly because their works began to reflect those aspects of their personality that I found distasteful.
4. The Surprising Reason that Zebras Have Stripes
Apparently its to discourage biting flies from landing.
5. A New Theory On Why We Haven't Found Aliens Yet?
Now, three researchers think they think they may have another potential answer to Fermi’s question: Aliens do exist; they’re just all asleep.
(Their hypothesis that the aliens have uploaded themselves digitally reminds me a great deal of a similar hypothesis in the Powers of X/House of X - Hickman comics I've been reading. Making me wonder if Jonathan Hickman is reading these research studies?)
6. Here have a flower...as a kind of thank you...for not arguing with me about anything lately...
Although the point of the episode was to give Katara's brother Zuku some agency - and a little more depth, than pointless sidekick and damsel, who keeps claiming to be a warrior but just gets knocked down, taken hostage, or thrown around. The fact that he's made it this far - makes me think his super-power is invulnerability.
Jett - is the best drawn of the characters I've seen to date, along with his gang. Jett and his gang reminded me more of anime - specifically Cowboy Bepop, Jett looks a lot like Bepob. (I love anime. It's kind of ruined me, actually, for other forms of animation. I've been known to binge on it.)
2. Also went on a book buying spree - I really should actually finish the book I'm currently reading prior to buying more. I blame Smartbitches, which I should stop following - but I can't get myself to do so...
Books bought? Ah.
* What's Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She by Dennis Baron
Like trigger warnings and gender-neutral bathrooms, pronouns are sparking a national debate, prompting new policies in schools, workplaces, even prisons, about what pronouns to use. Colleges ask students to declare their pronouns along with their majors; corporate conferences print name tags with space to add pronouns; email signatures sport pronouns along with names and titles. Far more than a by-product of the culture wars, gender-neutral pronouns are, however, nothing new. Pioneering linguist Dennis Baron puts them in historical context, noting that Shakespeare used singular-they; women invoked the generic use of he to assert the right to vote (while those opposed to women’s rights invoked the same word to assert that he did not include she); and people have been coining new gender pronouns, not just hir and zie, for centuries. Based on Baron’s own empirical research, What’s Your Pronoun? chronicles the story of the role pronouns have played—and continue to play—in establishing both our rights and our identities. It is an essential work in understanding how twenty-first-century culture has evolved.
I'm trying to wrap my head around it. My church has embraced it completely. This looks like a good way to understand it. And the book was marked down to $3.99 on Kindle.
* Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski
An essential exploration of why and how women’s sexuality works—based on groundbreaking research and brain science—that will radically transform your sex life into one filled with confidence and joy.
Researchers have spent the last decade trying to develop a “pink pill” for women to function like Viagra does for men. So where is it? Well, for reasons this book makes crystal clear, that pill will never be the answer—but as a result of the research that’s gone into it, scientists in the last few years have learned more about how women’s sexuality works than we ever thought possible, and Come as You Are explains it all.
The first lesson in this essential, transformative book by Dr. Emily Nagoski is that every woman has her own unique sexuality, like a fingerprint, and that women vary more than men in our anatomy, our sexual response mechanisms, and the way our bodies respond to the sexual world. So we never need to judge ourselves based on others’ experiences. Because women vary, and that’s normal.
Second lesson: sex happens in a context. And all the complications of everyday life influence the context surrounding a woman’s arousal, desire, and orgasm.
Cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines tells us that the most important factor for women in creating and sustaining a fulfilling sex life, is not what you do in bed or how you do it, but how you feel about it. Which means that stress, mood, trust, and body image are not peripheral factors in a woman’s sexual wellbeing; they are central to it. Once you understand these factors, and how to influence them, you can create for yourself better sex and more profound pleasure than you ever thought possible.
The description sold me, along with the sample. Most books about women's sexuality seem to generalize - this one doesn't. Also it makes a very strong point about how you can't tell someone is a virgin - that the hymen is an area that can heal and doesn't stay torn on everyone, and that there isn't always bleeding. Which I found fascinating, when I skimmed the sample. There's a lot of misinformation and myths out there about female sexuality. Bonus? It gave me a free credit. (Whether I actually read it or not is another issue.)
* Or What You Will by Jo Walton - this is a fantasy novel about a fictional character who fears dying when his author dies. He'll be stuck in her skull. So he's trying to convince her to put them both into her next book so they can survive.
Sounds fascinating, and I find Walton to be an interesting fantasy writer.
So, we'll see.
Meanwhile flirting with Jim Butcher's to be released Peace Talks - it's out on Kindle on July 14, but it is frigging $14.99 which is pricey for Kindle. OTOH, Dresden Novels tend to be things I've bought in hard cover.
I like the characters and the writing style. (Only the Dresden novels, I don't like anything else the writer writes and I'm not overly crazy about the writer himself, but I like the Dresden files.)
3. Cognitive Dissonance...and how to enjoy and care for people who have political views that make me crazy or are offensive.
I've learned in life that people aren't one thing and can't be judged on one thing. I have co-workers, who I know are lovely people and I've seen help others - whose views on homosexuality, transgender, and race make me cringe.
While I've met very liberal people, including a man who was my boss, who were horrific - the man who was my boss at dead evil library company, was gaslighting me, a serial bully, and a narcissist. But hey, he was very liberal in regards to politics.
It makes life interesting.
This is kind of preamble to dealing with writers, actors, directors, and artists whose work you love but some of their personal views make you want to run away screaming - or you are diametrically opposed to them. Not to mention some who have done things that...hmmm, make you want to run in the opposite direction screaming.
I think I can continue to enjoy their works, and to a degree separate the work from the writer. In a lot of cases, the works are largely collaborative efforts and this makes it easier. In the cases in which they aren't? I have found things of value in the works, also, people are flawed. They aren't one thing. I have had racist family members - who were also kind and loving.
And I know Trump supporters, who are kind and loving. One woman that I know of, who is a Trump supporter and alt-right, goes out of her way to rescue domestic animals. She volunteers at shelters, she goes to natural disaster sites and rescues the animals. And she helped me get the job that I currently have. Cognitive Dissonance.
Same with various writers, etc.
That said, there are a few that I've swung away from, mainly because their works began to reflect those aspects of their personality that I found distasteful.
4. The Surprising Reason that Zebras Have Stripes
Apparently its to discourage biting flies from landing.
5. A New Theory On Why We Haven't Found Aliens Yet?
Now, three researchers think they think they may have another potential answer to Fermi’s question: Aliens do exist; they’re just all asleep.
(Their hypothesis that the aliens have uploaded themselves digitally reminds me a great deal of a similar hypothesis in the Powers of X/House of X - Hickman comics I've been reading. Making me wonder if Jonathan Hickman is reading these research studies?)
6. Here have a flower...as a kind of thank you...for not arguing with me about anything lately...
no subject
Date: 2020-07-12 09:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-12 02:43 pm (UTC)French is interesting because it has gender nouns and pronouns and verbs. They put "e"'s on the end of the feminine nouns and often verbs. And would often put "Le" and "La" to differentiate. The Latin languages seem to be gender specific.
Baron also suggests that the English language wasn't always so gendered. In Shakespear's time for example or the Elizabethan age it was far less so, with thee and thou used more than he and she.
But the problematic nature of "they" is in English it often means "plural" such as "we", it's not considered a singular pronoun. "Our" vs. "Theirs".
So finding a non-gendered singular pronoun is not easy. Right now everyone is using "they" mainly because hir doesn't quite work.
See, the problem is in English - the pronoun choices are: "he, she, you, me," for singular, and "they, we, us, them," for plural. "You" can sometimes mean plural. "Me" is always singular. "They" now seems to be plural and singular - but that's confusing when I was taught that it was "plural". Except I don't tend to memorize grammatical rules - so much as figure out the logic behind them and remember it in that way - so if you can show me how "they" can logically work in singular terms - I can remember it.
What I'm struggling with is that "they" just doesn't work for me as a singular pronoun. It goes against all the logic that I was taught in first grade through college in regards to the grammatical rules surrounding "they". (I'm not a linguist, so I was taught what non-linguists were teaching in the schools.)
Many languages, however, don't have "singular" pronouns or they use the singular with the plural pronouns with slight differences.
So...what can we do to provide a non-gendered pronoun in English? Pick a plural and make it both singular and plural? Or create a new one?
Apparently this book answers that question via a linguist. Or I hope. Because if it can be explained to me in logical terms, I can wrap my head around it and remember it. LOL!
no subject
Date: 2020-07-13 05:41 am (UTC)I don't think it needs to be specifically any one of those. Context of a sentence often determines the actual intent. So, in one instance, one pronoun (verb, noun, whatever) can be used, and a different one used in another instance.
For example:
"If someone thinks they are developing symptoms of COVID-19, what should he or she do?"
I have no problem with making this gender neutral by using "they" as such:
"If someone thinks they are developing symptoms of COVID-19, what should they do?"
While "someone" implies "one", singular, the context of the sentence is readily taken to mean the question is, or could be, being directed at a number of people.
If one is filling out a form or other document where gender is requested, then I'd suggest a new term be created (and widely agreed upon) to allow for cases where someone does not wish to be placed in one category or another. Yes, getting that agreement could be tricky, but it has happened before, with "Ms." I'd personally suggest "Mn.", pronounced "Minn". So you'd have:
Mister Jones
Miz Jones
Minn Jones
One thing I'd strongly urge anyone creating new words take onto account is how they sound when spoken. Words work best in one's mind, thinking them, when they sound like the thing they describe. That is, think as if you were creating music. What does the sound conjure up?
( Which is why I picked Mn. instead of the "more logical" Mx. Pronounced either "Mix" or "Mex", either creates an odd association with an existing thought/sound. "Minn" doesn't, but the second 'n' is necessary to avoid "Min" which could be pronounced "Mine". )
-- Exits post after selecting "Thinks Too Much" icon -- ;-)