Of mostly more-or-less good news this time.
- Turnabout. Toddler saves old guy locked in a hot car.
- Lowes employees do what the VA won’t.
- Strangers respond to a grieving father’s request to photoshop a picture of his baby who lived only six weeks.
- “The State of the American Dog.” The pit bull, that is.
Okay, and now back to the more usual ranting.
- So let me get this straight. She’ll be drawn and written by guys and she’ll have the standard, obligatory gigantic plasticy-looking boobs, without which no female is allowed to enter the action comics/movie universe. But turning an ancient Norse god, who’s been male for thousands of years, into a woman is supposed to be liberating for girls … how??? And why not just create a character based on any of the kickass goddesses already available? (This is quite a different thing than the also PC claim that Captain America will now be black. First of all, the claim is misleading. Second, the Capt is Marvel’s creation and they can do whatever they want with him. But Thor? A woman?)
- Big Brother is behind the times. I read the whole article waiting for this quote, which duly appeared: “‘If we have another 9/11, the people who hear about it through an EAS message are going to be the last to know,’ he said. ‘By the time you hear that annoying “buzz” sound on the radio, all your friends will have tweeted about it.”
Actually Thor has been a “horse” and a giant green frog. Why not a woman? Unless you’re saying that mythology is fact and shouldn’t be changed, in which case the whole of Marvel’s Thor series is a terrible, terrible thing, and should not exist.
Well, you got a point there, Keith. But changing Thor into a woman still smacks of pure PC.
Well, this was just pointed out to me. Thor was a woman back in 1978 (before “PC” was invented), and Wonder Woman slung the hammer at some point in history, if I remember correctly (which is kinda weird, since she’s a DC character, so it must have been a crossover issue). Of course I would love to see some of the female Norse gods step up. Skadi would be a great one to head a book. But Marvel (and DC even more so) don’t like new characters, which is why they are making old ones new genders, and different races. It’s not as much about “PC” as it is about diversity, and representation, which is important for women, and POC. As anarchists, voluntarists,etc. we should be embracing this, especially since it’s not something being forced on them by a government.
Yeah, it gets tiresome watching all the attempts of Hollywood et. al. to turn girls into boys and boys into morons…
“In July 2013 hackers there gained access to an EAS signal and broadcast a phony alert about a zombie apocalypse on a string of CBS television affiliates owned by the Montana Television Network.”
I (heart) hackers. What a dreary world this would be without them.
Claire, I went poking around the ijreview site and found this. You’ll enjoy it, it is fricking hilarious:
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/07/157725-humorous-mock-campaign-ad-shows-politicians-sound-like-really-honest/
The new Thor is meant for women and girls period. I do not believe it’ll last, the original Thor will get the Hammer back, probably in a few months, after the numbers come in. I also think it is extremely insulting to men and boys for all this feminization to be going on, because it’s not just Thor.
It wasn’t government or a corporation that helped the Vet, it was some individuals that got together to help the guy.
I’d rather depend on the Drudge Report for ‘breaking news’ any day of the week than the EBS, not even CNN.
I’m looking forward to the gender-switched “Jesus Christ Superhero” comic. That’s gonna put an… interesting spin on the theories that Christ (ChristY?) and Mary Magdalene had a thing going.
Seems to me that this comic thing is just another cog in the wheel to change our society. Let’s face it, yeah, comics are a means of kids entertainment but they also direct kids views. this whole thing smacks of the damm liberals goal of changing our society. That, and the disgusting idea with political correctness. Time to bring back books like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn!
I remember the uprising on F*c*book when they made Heimdallr, “the whitest of the gods,” a black guy in the first Thor movie… I’m of Norwegian decent and loved the mythology growing up so I was familiar with the characters. When the comments came flowing about the switch to a black character, I made the horrible joke that “well, he was described as having gold teeth.” I think that just made both sides mad…
In case you haven’t seen this yet, meet my new hero, Pawel Kuczynski… Visit this link and tell me his art isn’t the best thing ever…
http://inspireamaze.com/these-29-clever-drawings-will-make-you-question-everything-wrong-with-the-world/
Ragnar — I’ve seen those drawings before and yeah, they’re good stuff! The revolving dictator statue and the Washington monument were among my favorites.
Um … yeah, bad joke that. Could get you crucified, but I think claiming Norwegian descent is a mitigating factor.
It’s been a really long time since I was in a comic book store, or in a section that was for comic books. And that last time I noticed there wasn’t a kid in sight, it was all adults. Do kids even read comic books? – which makes me wonder if it’s to annoy adults with these new character variations more than it is to shape kids futures….
On a related note, they killed Archie….right there on the cover…yeah, kids will love that……
Bear — You know, I think one reason I’m much more offended at seeing an ancient god turned into a female than I would be seeing the same god depicted as black or Asian or whatever is because there was a trend a few years back (and may still be in some circles) to present our very own Jehovah as a girly god — “God the mother and father” instead of just “God the father” or (more accurately to anyone who’s read the bible from cover to cover) “God the freakin’ scary mutha father.”
Turning Thor female is not just a superficial change. Not just an egregious act of PC. Not just an attempt to sell more comic books. Not just an attempt to socially engineer children (though that, too). But a de-naturing of the character in question.
I’m not saying a goddess can’t be a cool, powerful (or terrifyingly brutal) character. Just saying a god and a goddess are different beings.
RE: Movie Thor, Heimdall, etc- Black Heimdall didn’t bug me much. I mean, once you’ve turned the deity into a hi-tech space alien, what difference does the phenotype make (nod to Hillary)? At least they kept them humanoid. They could — just as “logically” — made them cthulhoids. (The last time I read Thor comic, he was still supposed to be the actual mythological deity; did that change in the comics somewhere along the line?)
Claire, not so sure about the “denaturing”. If turning a frickin’ god into a comic book superhero hadn’t already done that, what can? I think it’s a 50:50 mix of PC social engineering and a really poorly thought out attempt to make money. My bet is that the majority of women and girls who read it will be the ones already reading comics anyway. They’ll lose other readers. It will not boost sales, except for one or two issues; those will be bought by collectors of short-lived stupidity (other comic book collectors will buy them, but they would anyway, driven to maintain complete collections).
I’ve commented (with illustration) further at my site. It’s a toss-up who’ll get me first: Al Qaeda or the Southern Baptist Convention.
It wasn’t government or a corporation that helped the Vet, it was some individuals that got together to help the guy.
Not government, I agree. But the people from Lowes were working for a corporation that they knew would allow them to take the time and parts to rebuild the chair, without obsessing over legal liability. I have worked for such.
I have also worked in places where the manager would call 911 and tell them to get the crip out of the way, and if workers or managers tried to help, the corporation would fire them.
But Marvel (and DC even more so) don’t like new characters
Marvel and DC, and the rest of Hollywood, are all on a quest for the same thing: A brilliant new concept with a proven track record, produced by a committee.
‘By the time you hear that annoying “buzz” sound on the radio, all your friends will have tweeted about it.”
I may have mentioned the email ads I keep getting about how my business can keep operating during a disaster if all my data is in the cloud. I get the same buzz here. I think their “disaster” isn’t my disaster.
In my concept of disaster (even one that doesn’t involve losing electrical power) either I have about a kazillion things to do more important than watching TV, or it’s time to kiss my a** goodbye, which also won’t involve TV.
Okay, actually, what I’m really picturing when PotUS hits the EAS switch is the Heidi Bowl:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-heidi-bowl
Turning Thor female is not just a superficial change. Not just an egregious act of PC. Not just an attempt to sell more comic books. Not just an attempt to socially engineer children (though that, too). But a de-naturing of the character in question.
Kinda like the recent movie that turned Noah into a murderous suicidal vegetarian. Somehow it was the vegetarian part that stuck in my craw.
Toddler saves old guy locked in a hot car.
Toddler (and mom) were amazing. The miracle was a grownup having a conversation taking time out to listen to a three-year-old.
Look for Katee Sackhoff to be the Thor. She did a good job in Riddick, which supposedly is why she’s being considered but it’s funny as hell that she gets consideration based on a movie where her gender was a constant plot device. I’m just glad they didn’t make Thor a gay man, or into bestiality and child molestation. The destruction of Norse mythology is in full swing. I suspect this is intentional, to ruin all mythology, Christian, Norse (but no Islamic) etc. Look for Thorarina to be involved in the fight for Global Warming, hunting African game animals, and be a militant lesbian man hater… who loves Central American invader children.
I dunno. If feminists were consistent creatures, which I know they tend not to be, this move would backfire on Marvel big time. I mean, look what they turned Thor into – in Norse mythology he had a function of sorts. In the comic books he’s just a big blond guy whose solution to pretty much everything is to hit it with a hammer. Why would feminists want that part played by a woman?
“Why would feminists want that part played by a woman?” The reasons are about changing the cultural ideal that women are equal. Thor’s financially successful for Marvel and unlike the real woman infantrymen. The army and Marines have jumped through every hoop to make this happen. They have reduced/changed the training standards to get woman officer candidates through Basic school but haven’t had a lick of success in having a woman actually succeed in a real live infantry unit. Since reality isn’t working out well for the woman warrior in comparison to men, more TV/Movie time is necessary to create the illusion.
I’m having trouble envisioning Thor with tits, but I suppose in the comic world, you can make anything happen.
Thanks, Ragnar, for that link. Nice artwork.
“Why would feminists want that part played by a woman?”
Because so-called gender feminists like to hit _everything_ with a hammer (esp. men, but ideals, traditions and other women as well if they don’t conform to the feminists’ standards). Watch and see what s/he attacks and you’ll find the agenda.
Real Women ― the counterpart of a Real Man ― like both quiche AND steak, metaphorically speaking, but especially like to keep hero and heroine apart. Gays, feminists, and PCers are trying their damnedest to make unisex a reality. They obviously don’t understand the evolutionary road that humans traveled to get here; we are not amoebae, we are two sexes ― and _vive la différence!_
If they wanted to make Thor more appealing to females, then all they had to do was add more scenes with him running around shirtless while rescuing kids!
(My favorite scene in the first Thor movie was of him helping evacuate the townspeople, when he picked up a kid and handed him up to the parents.)
Re what one poster commented re women in the military; I dunno…when I was in the SeaBees I have seen women layng cement block like you would not believe. I have also known women in the USMC that were nothing you would want to mess with. Ditto in the regular navy. Granted, there may be some that enlist and can’t make it….that does not mean that all women cannot. Same with other professions….I once saw a female truck driver deck a guy that was giving her grief…that guy was flat on his back out cold and the gal that decked him maybe weighed only 125 pounds. I’m not a feminist but I sure as hell am not a chauvenist either.
Curt S, They’ve not had one single woman make it. Now, do they exist? I’m sure some do and I have no problem if they can do the work. But so far it’s hasn’t even been close. I can lay concrete and block to this day, did some this weekend… I started out life as an M-60 gunner (22 lbs)… but I can no longer do what infantrymen do on a daily basis to save my life… and it can come down to that. And the army and Marines are doing everything possible to make it happens since it was ordered by congress. Funny thing is about 40 percent of the men in the army aren’t capable of carrying the average load of 120 lbs day in and day out. And in the case of the Marines there’s been no rush by woman within the Marines to do it either. This was a done deal in 2000… but before they actually got anyone through training 9-11 happened and that was that. Now that the wars are winding down (hopefully… at least everyone thinks that) they started up the push to get woman in the infantry again.
It wouldn’t be the first time in the Marvel Universe that someone other than Thor was able to use that hammer.
When sales drop, Thor will probably get his hammer back.
Apparently Marvel finally checked their white cis-gendered male heterosexual privilege, haha. What a joke.
Everything Marvel has put out in like the last several years has been awful. Not merely from any sort of political or social standpoint, although every single thing seems to include some sort of ridiculous mockery in the name of social justice such as black Heimdall or some such nonsense…but really I mean just terrible as in everything they release is just overall atrocious.
I seriously hope marvel goes under and never makes anything ever again.
(and for the record massive radiation exposure gives you horrific cancer not super powers…)