Regarding Japan...

In the Metro this past week there was a blurb that resonated for me. The Japanese don't like to ask for help. They like to handle it themselves. But are incredibly generous. I totally get that - because I hate to ask for aid or help too. But sometimes you need to ask for help - you just can't do it alone.
And Japan is drowning.

Here's the video I posted last week to Facebook:

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2011/03/12/nhk.japan.tsunami.aftermath.nhk.html

And here's the one from Japan, posted by honorh who is there right now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oqvsykuwh88

If you want to give aid and Japan does need it (often those who don't ask up front need it the most) - I've been told that Oxfan International is a good place to go to and legitimate. That's the biggest problem right now about aid giving is finding legitimate organizations.
We all know we can't trust the American Red Cross - which is a poorly run organization and the aid often goes to administrative costs as opposed to the people who need it.

http://www.oxfam.org/en/emergencies/japan-earthquake-tsunami

I also know that the US NAVY has been sending ships and aid from both the President's speech and a friend on lj who works for the US NAVY and has been posting on it.

Five favorite female characters of Color or Minority

ganked from selenak

1. Cristina Yang - portrayed by the brilliant Sandra Oh on Grey's Anatomy. A Korean-American female surgeon. The best student in her class. Dry-witted. Razor smart. Yet also vulnerable. She operated on her best friend's husband while a gun was pointed at her head. Survived post-traumatic stress disorder.
And refuses to compromise herself for anyone.

2. Bailey - by Chandra Wilson, also on Grey's Anatomy. The brilliant attending generalist surgeon, who stands up to the Chief and is called by the interns - The Nazi. She's not thin and skinny like most female actresses on these shows. Short, stocky, tough. A minority character who is not merely supporting. We've followed her divorce, her struggle to start a clinic, and she coined the term vajay-jay.

3. Kalinda - on The Good Wife - the bisexual female investigator, who can turn on men and women, also hold her own with anyone. She often is the one who solves the cases on this show. And her friendship with Alicia is a high point.

4. Mercedes on Glee - possibly my favorite character on that show, although rarely seen. She makes no apologies. Has a great voice. And stands up for herself. Telling Puck that she doesn't need him to be popular.

5. Tara on True Blood - (S1, S2 - she's a bit weaker), Sookie's best friend and a survivor of her abusive home life, she manages to survive the weirdness of Bon Temps with no powers of her own. In some respects, she's smarter, tougher, and more together than Sookie is.

[In doing this meme - I realized the characters listed above have bigger roles than minority or women of color in sci-fi or fantasy tv shows. Which is interesting. ]

Honorable mention: Gwen on Merlin - she's great, but tends to be more a romantic interest in the series, so Tara and Mercedes...came first. My criteria is the female character must be central to the show, have a large role and not be a romantic interest. Mercedes is sort of cheating.

Red Nose Day - Doctor Who Related Vids for the Doctor Who fans on my flist

These appear to be for people in Africa, and to help those across the UK and in Japan, but not certain. It's similar to US Comic Relief.

( David Tennet and Catherine Tate )

( Amy and the Eleventh Doctor )

30 Female Characters in One Day Meme

This is the abridged version...because it's hard enough to do in this format. Note - I'd have troubles with this for male characters either. What? You want me to pick just one? Ugh. Impossible.
Not sure I can do this. My memory tends to blank on stuff like this. But...I want to make a point about something - male characters ARE not written better than female characters. We just tend to think of male characters more - because action/adventure and sci-fantasy/mystery genres tend to be overwhelmingly male oriented. But that is changing and there are quite a few strong and great female characters in those genres.

( 30 days female character meme and these types of memes often feel impossible. I reserve the right to change my mind at a later date. )

(no subject)

Anyone else not getting response notifications via email from lj any longer? I didn't know I had any responses until I checked the actual entries. What's up with that?