Author: Alex

Categories
feminism

In which I am bewildered by Boobquake

Not the actual Boobquake concept. I follow Jen’s blog and Twitter and was pretty much up on the thing as it developed. I find it quite amusing, really. I’m not planning to participate myself; if nothing else, the few articles of clothing I own that show off my cleavage are most definitely Not Work Appropriate. But I’d also daresay the fact that I wear pants and polo shirts and am flaunting my uncovered red hair and even flash the occasional (gasp) ankle would count as fairly immodest in some parts of the world anyway.

What I’m really puzzled about is some of the feminist negativity. Like this, for example. Or over at Salon.

I’m basically picking up two main points from those posts, and others I’ve seen that I haven’t bothered to find again:
1) Encouragement of body image issues/women feeling pressured
2) Men like it when we show off cleavage so this is just more objectification

Encouragement of body image issues? Is there some kind of “hotties only” sign that’s been subliminally attached to the facebook page or the blog post, one that I missed? I think this is something where women will participate if they want. If there’s a whiff of body image issues here, it’s not caused by the whole Boobquake thing; rather, the response is a symptom.

Me saying “I don’t feel comfortable showing off what I’ve got” is not Boobquake forcing some sudden unpleasant realization on me that I’m a fatty and don’t like wearing tight clothing. I’ve been a fatty my entire goddamn life. It’s not making me feel worse about it. It’s just revealing once again that I’ve internalized the ridiculous beauty standards of society rather more than I care to admit. That’s something I deal with every day. Frankly, I found most of the Boobquake posts Jen’s made quite refreshing in that she hasn’t set out any kind of standard. There’s no cleavage requirement. There’s no hotness requirement. The only requirement (beyond being female) that I see is the implied requirement that one must have the confidence to wear something “revealing,” however you define that.

Right now, it’s easier for women who meet societal beauty standards to have that required confidence. But you know what? There’s a lot of women who don’t match that ridiculous beauty ideal who still have that amazing confidence, and good on them. And those of us that don’t? It’s not the fault of a silly event like Boobquake, and no one is getting on our case about it anyway.

Then on to the fact that there are some creepy dudes that are all happy because women are going to show off their cleavage. Or that this puts women on parade. You know what? No matter what we do, we’re on parade as long as society remains patriarchal. If we want to wear something that shows off our cleavage, the patriarchy wins because the patriarchy likes boobies. If we wear turtlenecks because the patriarchy likes boobies, then we are just as surely being controlled. From where I’m standing, worrying about what the patriarchy (oh faceless devil that it is) thinks about our fashion choices is the ultimate no-win situation. The fact that we’re worried about it to begin with means that we have ceded them just a little more control over our choices and our lives.

In the Salon article, Beth Mann mentions the feminists of yore burning their bras as a political statement. It was bold, and it was shocking. But you know what? I bet there were some dudes standing around that were more than happy to ogle the angry feminists with their braless breasts. So has it ever been. I think it’s just as much of a political statement that those proud, angry women didn’t let that stop them.

Categories
skepticamp

Colorado Skepticamp is dead – long live Colorado Skepticamp!

Well, the good news is that we’re still going to have a Colorado Skepticamp this year, dangit! By hook or by crook!

I’d been a little bit worried about this. You see, months and months ago there was an organizational meeting for the event, where I volunteered with my buddy Micah to be the scheduling czar. Micah and I hashed out a bunch of ideas for improvements over some of the problems at last year’s Skepticamp, then hunkered down to wait for someone to tell us when the event would actually be, along with other little details – how many rooms we’d have, for what times, yadda yadda. Because it really is impossible to do anything for scheduling at an event if you don’t have dates and times.

And we waited, and waited, and waited… attempts at poking resulted in no response. And I admit, I’m also not such a go-getter that I wasn’t willing to do more than a bit of gentle poking. Because frankly, I’ve got a wedding I’m planning, and that’s more than enough for me to deal with right now. But I did wonder what the fate of Colorado Skepticamp would be, if the planning had apparently fallen apart, in a sort of vague “Oh shit I have to meet with a lady about flowers this weekend” kind of way.

Well, we got back on track last night with a reboot meeting, thanks to Rich and Reed and the many others that showed up. Since we’re trying to whip something together on fairly short notice, it’s going to be a leaner, meaner (okay, not meaner) deal than what was discussed at last year’s planning meeting. And I’m frankly okay with that. Something like poster sessions, or a video room starts sounding convention-esque, and that’s certainly more fancy organizing than I could handle. (And, apparently, pretty much everyone else involved could handle.) Bells and whistles also do seem to be a bit contrary to the last three Skepticamps we have known and loved.

Hopefully the crack squad that’s set on hunting up a location will have things settled soon, and we’ll have a date. I’m pretty excited.

I’ve also decided that this year, I’m definitely taking a rest from speaking. I did a presentation at the first Skepticamp and the third, so I really ought to give it a rest and let other people have the time. Which is also easy for me to say, because I don’t think I could put a coherent presentation together in time anyway, since we’re aiming for before TAM. For about five seconds, I entertained the idea of seeing if I could come up with some kind of light-hearted wedding skepticism thing, but no. The route I’ve gone has minimized my exposure to evil vendors (so unlike Kat, I haven’t had anyone try to convince me that my lifelong happiness hinged on an ice sculpture) and my close family and friends are sadly lacking in the charming yet crazy superstitious person department. And at this point in the game, I’m way too lazy to do research.

My life. It is hard.

Categories
movie

In which I have a lot to say about "Clash of the Titans"

Yesterday, I saw the new Clash of the Titans with my best friend while we were waiting for the new battery to be installed in her car. Since it was the 10:30 AM showing, tickets were only $6. The reason I mention this as significant is because I’m incredibly glad I didn’t waste any more of my money on it than that. It’s something of a puzzle to me that Ebert gave this movie three stars, while in comparison he gave Michael Bay’s love letter to running away from explosions in slow motion (aka Transformers 2) only one star. I honestly feel the two movies are about equal when it comes to story quality, even if Transformers 2 did fall behind in the Shiny Liam Neeson With a Giant Beard department.

Needless to say, this movie was not what I had desperately hoped it would be – it was manifestly not a faithful remake of the old Clash of the Titans, just with better special effects. The story was changed in some fundamental ways, and as you can probably tell, I don’t think that it was the better for it. Below is my synposis of the new plot:

* * *

For no apparent reason, a bunch of Greeks have decided that they don’t like the gods any more. They never bother to tell us why. King I-Can’t-Be-Bothered-To-Remember-His-Name lays siege to Olympus. Zeus retaliates, as one might expect when the mighty God of Thunder gets a poke in the eye from a mortal, by having sex with the King’s wife. No, really. And then when the King gets angry and throws her in to the sea because she’s pregnant, Zeus finally gets around to zapping the guy with lightning. Which doesn’t actually kill him, for some reason. Instead it just sort of melts half his face, at which point the King decides to go live in the sewers and starts calling himself Calebos. I suppose we should feel lucky he didn’t build a pipe organ and start composing opera. At some point later, by the way, Hades pops up to see Calebos and infuses him with super powers via the Beam of Fiery Stenchy Breath and reveals that this is all just so he (Hades) can try to screw over Zeus.

A fisherman finds baby Perseus and raises him, which mostly involves complaining about how much the gods suck. They’re sailing around one day and come across a super awesome statue of Zeus overlooking the sea, just in time to see a bunch of soldiers from Argos knock it over in to the water. For no apparent reason Hades shows up, kills all the soldiers, and then blows up the fishing boat for good measure, just because he’s in a bad mood. This causes Perseus to spend the rest of the movie brooding and snarling about how a god killed his family, so all the gods can suck it as far as he’s concerned. I’m guessing one of the abilities of being a demigod is to be incredibly unimpressed when confronted by an actual god. And also to be the only man in Argos with a crew cut as opposed to an Ancient Greek Mullet, but that’s a different topic.

Hades, who needs both hair plugs and some Vick’s Vapor Rub, goes to Olympus and tells Shiny Liam Neeson that the humans are saying mean things about the gods, and that Hades would be happy to scare the hell out of them so they start praying properly again. All of the other gods stand around and look shiny and sound vaguely British, but contribute nothing of value to the plot. Zeus sends Hades off to do whatever he wants, then hangs out with his bald eagle, because apparently Olympus is in the western United States. Just so you know.

A few remaining soldiers, all of them wearing breastplates with the most stupid fake musculature EVER, find Perseus and take him back to Argos, where people are partying because the gods can suck it. Or something. Cassiopaea starts up about how her daughter is hotter than all the gods, even after Andromeda tells her to knock it off, since it’s kind of embarrassing. Hades manifests as a giant Hell Blender and grinds up all the soldiers, then kills Cassiopaea and tells the few people left alive that he’s going to sic the Kraken on them if they don’t sacrifice Andromeda to it in ten days.

Perseus, in keeping with the acting abilities of Sam Worthington, says some growly stuff about how much the gods suck but woodenly insists that he can’t do anything about it, and thus gets thrown in jail, because for no discernible reason everyone suddenly knows that he’s Zeus’ kid. A hot chick with nice hair shows up and introduces herself as Io and kind of explains things to him but not really.

Perseus suddenly decides that he’s going to try to help out Argos. I’m guessing it’s because he thinks the gods suck, but honestly I couldn’t tell you. He gets some ridiculous looking armor of his own and sets out with some soldiers and a couple of comic relief characters. There is dialog and some action and a half-naked holy man and frankly none of it makes sense. Perseus does some typical male bonding stuff with the soldiers, so it becomes apparent that they are all destined to die in ways that will make him strike poses both stoic and steely-eyed. The soldier in charge (who has both a mullet and facial scars) tries to point out to Perseus that he’s got some better-than-human abilities because he’s a demigod. Perseus insists that he hates gods, doesn’t want to be like them, and is going to be just a man, thank you very much. Io is also following along this entire time, looking like she’s just stepped out of a salon.

At some point during this testosterone fest, there’s a scene where Hades lets Zeus know that Perseus is around. This is apparently a surprise to Zeus, which was something of a surprise to me. And Zeus’ reaction is then to be butt-hurt, because Perseus never sent him a card on father’s day. Be that as it may, Zeus sends a magical sword to Perseus – which Perseus immediately refuses to use because HAVE I MENTIONED I HATE GODS AND AM BITTER? – and shows off his pegasus herd.

Rather than let us enjoy the pretty horsies, Calebos pops up out of nowhere and starts killing the soldiers. There’s some very confused fighting, and then Calebos gets his hand cut off. His blood turns in to the giant scorpions, which then leads to a surprisingly boring fight scene where the soldiers try to kill the computer generated scorpions. The only enjoyable part of the fight is when Io saves Perseus, then gets pitched down a hill for her trouble and we find out that her hair actually isn’t a solid block and that she can look ever so slightly grimy. The fight sequence ends with the brave soldiers surrounded by giant scorpions, and it looks vaguely worrying.

And then a Djinn shows up. No, you didn’t misread that. Apparently this desert belongs to the Djinn, and in movie geography ancient Greece is located next door to ancient Persia. The Djinn are all magical and tame the scorpions. Or something. And apparently decide that they like Perseus, because even Djinn think that the gods suck. Overnight, they build some lovely houses on top of the scorpions, and they all set off together across what appears to be the Sahara, to get to the mountains where the witches live. The grizzled old soldier at this point tells Perseus to stop being a petulant douchebag and actually try to reach his demi-god potential, because by not doing so he’s been letting the nameless and uninteresting soldiers get picked off like flies. As you might suspect, Perseus’ reaction to this is to scowl mightily and be even more petulant and douchey.

The scene with the witches actually runs about like the original movie, except the witches are much creepier looking. At the end, they make a big prophecy about how Perseus is Going To Die, which considering that he’s not actually immortal probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Apparently this is a dealbreaker for all but one of the Djinn, though, and they run off with their scorpions. Perseus takes a little walk by himself, meets up with Zeus and is petulant at him, then Zeus gives him a coin for the ferryman. Which is probably the most fatherly thing Zeus has ever done; I certainly remember my days in college (the first time around) when I looked pathetic enough that my parents couldn’t resist slipping me twenties before I headed back to my dorm.

So the merry little band goes to the river Styx, and the Djinn is the only one smart enough to figure out how to call for Charon, I suppose so that the character has something to do since it’s incapable of engaging in even the meaningless dialog (due to a language barrier) that’s the halmark of this movie. Everyone hangs out on the boat, and Perseus and Io (who is once again perfectly groomed) have a moment so devoid of chemistry that I was forced to wonder if it had been written by Stephanie Meyer. They all get to Medusa’s lair; Io stays outside and lets all the boys go merrily to their deaths.

Now, I will say that I liked the Medusa’s lair sequence. I think they did a good job with Medusa, and I really liked all the eerie giggling that she did. Medusa also proceeds to kill everyone but Perseus, and I was hard-pressed to care. Perseus chops off her head, and goes outside to Io, who then gets stabbed through the back by Calebos. At this point, I was forced to conclude that Calebos’ Hades-derived super power is randomly popping up whenever the script calls for yet another fight sequence. Io’s stabbing is apparently all the motivation Perseus needs to stop being a childish about being a demigod; he grabs the until now ignored magic sword and slices the crap out of Calebos. The magical sword then sucks all the evil out of Calebos, briefly transforming him back in to King Whatever-His-Name-Was, who dies after telling Perseus “Don’t become like them.”

Uh… whatever, jerk who just stabbed the well-groomed lady.

Perseus and Io have another moment, which is – though this should be impossible according to the laws of physics – even more devoid of chemistry than the last. The eclipse starts up, then Io turns in to pretty lights and disappears. And Pegasus, knowing just when a deus ex machina is called for, shows up to carry Perseus back to Argos, covering the distance that apparently took 10 days to travel in something like five minutes. That’s what I call horsepower. (Har har.)

Oh, and at some point, Shiny Liam Neeson says, “Release the Kraken!” This, and the super pretty magical flying horsies, were worth the six bucks I shelled out to see them.

Meanwhile, back in Argos, the Kraken shows up. Andromeda gets hung by her wrists from some sort of wooden sacrificial structure and looks vaguely annoyed by the inconvenience, but otherwise unbothered. In a long and incredibly confusing sequence that lacks any sort of tension, Perseus does a lot of flying around on Pegasus, chasing after a little Hades minion that grabbed Medusa’s head when I blinked. He gets the head back, the Kraken gets turned in to stone, and then Andromeda gets dropped in the ocean. Hades shows up, Perseus whips out the magical sword, it gets zotted by lightning, and the uses it to knock Hades back in to the underworld.

Then he gets around to jumping in to the water and rescuing Andromeda, who has very impressive lung capacity. Andromeda asks Perseus to be king of Argos. Perseus says no, and then rides off on Pegasus, who takes him back to where Hades killed Perseus’ family. Zeus shows up, and there’s some very nonsensical dialog about how people are going to worship Perseus like a god, and Perseus should try to treat them better than the gods apparently did. Then Io appears, and I suppose it’s happily every after, but I had long since stopped caring.

* * *

…and that’s it. Maybe it was because I was extremely hungry by the end of the movie, but I found the climactic action sequence both confusing and boring. Throughout the entire movie, very little of what the characters did made any sense. None of the occasional quasi-philosophical things that the characters said about the relationship between men and gods made any sense. The relationship between Zeus and Hades was reduced to a lame charicature of what we saw in the Disney movie Hercules, which already stank of a Christian-style God versus Devil conflict tarted up with a thin veneer of Greek culture rather than anything representative of the actual mythology. Perseus had no character arc beyond scowling a lot and jumping around in a teeny leather skirt; in the end, we’re left to wonder if he was supposed to accept or reject his partially divine heritage, and if we can really be bothered to give a shit about it in the first place.

Give me the old Clash of the Titans any day, thanks. Maybe the special effects were crap, but at least I could buy Perseus going through all the dirt and mess because he wanted to get in to Andromeda’s pants. Making it in to a revenge fantasy where Perseus really just wants to stick it to the gods might make it more butch than the old movie, but I find CG scorpions and a bombastic theatrical score a poor substitute for the old exuberance.

Categories
skepticism

Science, Skepticism, and Faith

Yesterday, Dr. Novella (my hero) made a post at Skepticblog on this topic: Science and Religion – Again

It’s really hard for me to say much more than /agree to that post. The man is more coherent and eloquent than I think I’ve ever been in my wildest dreams.

I will say that this goes a long way toward elaborating on the utter discomfort I’ve felt some times at skeptical events. It’s no secret that I’m an atheist, and that I don’t personally have much use for faith, let alone organized religion. But I start feeling really squirmy when some of my fellow non-believers get frothy enough to declare that someone can’t possibly be a good skeptic if they’re not also an atheist. I’m really not a fan of purity tests when it comes to inclusion in a social group; once you get to that point, it seems that a rapid slide in to savaging one another for not being whatever enough is almost inevitable.

Now, this is not to say that I think many religious/faith-based claims should be given a free pass. But this is the big point, as stated by Dr. Novella:

It is important, in my opinion, for skeptics to be crystal clear on this point, because often the purveyors of pseudoscience will try to evade falsification or the negative effects of evidence on their claims by positioning the claim outside of science. At that point the skeptic must acknowledge that science can no longer demonstrate that the claim is likely to be false, but rather the claim is no longer scientific and can only be an article of faith.

If there’s a claim that you can build a scientific test around, it’s fair game and shouldn’t be given a pass. Faith healing? You can test that – if the tumor hasn’t been prayed away, the answer to that claim is pretty apparent. Someone says that they can talk to your mom’s ghost? If they can’t answer questions about her without resorting to google or cold reading, there you go. If nothing else, claims like that are things you can put in to a really nice “If… then…” statement. “IF that is real Bigfoot hair, THEN it definitely shouldn’t have the DNA of a yak,” or “IF homeopathy works, THEN it will have a statistically significant effect in randomized, placebo-controlled trials” or “IF the Shroud of Turin is a real artifact, THEN it will carbon date to the appropriate age and there will be evidence that the image is created with blood rather than paint.”

But if someone tells me, “I believe in God because I can feel His love in my heart,” well… there isn’t a lot I can do with that. Let me see… IF you really feel God’s love in your heart, THEN… uh… THEN…

I suppose I could get in to a philosophical argument at that point, because once you’ve hit the faith-zone, that’s all you have left. But frankly, I don’t have a whole lot of use for philosophical anything, let alone philosophical atheism. (Sorry, guys.) My own conclusions are based on what I feel is a lack of convincing evidence for the existence of a god, rather than long-winded debates about the existence of evil or what-have-you in the world. Because when you come down to it, my non-belief is the result of evidence that cannot be tested in such a way as to provide a solid conclusion. I took a look around and decided that, well, with that we’ve got there’s no reason to actually believe in a god, but I’ll keep an eye out to see if things change.

But you know what? I think it’s just as fair that someone else looked around and decided that, well, with what we’ve got there’s no reason to not believe in a god. And hopefully they’ll keep an eye out to see if things change as well.

Categories
volcano

Volcano cam

This is pretty cool: Volcano cam of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano, courtesy of Vodafone Iceland. And there’s enough going on with the eruption that a second vent has opened up. That’s some pretty exciting stuff!

Not quite sure how I feel about chefs cooking meals over the lava. I mean, I guess if there’s not much danger (since we’re talking an effusive rather than incredibly explosive eruption), there’s no reason not to. At least they’re cooking on the stuff that’s actually already cooled quite a bit.

Categories
wtf

He’s a very naughty boy

You know, I’ve read this article several times and I really just can’t come up with anything clever to say about it. Because it really just leaves me feeling like I’ve just bee hit in the back of the head with a small antelope, sort of flummoxed and confused and wondering why is there a dik-dik in my house anyway?

So, I can’t even imagine how poor Mr. Patel feels about the whole thing. At all. Particularly this bit:

The influx was so heavy, in fact, that he put up a statement on his website referencing Monty Python’s Life of Brian and categorically stating that he was not Maitreya.

Instead of settling the issue, however, his denial merely fanned the flames for some believers. In a twist ripped straight from the script of the comedy classic, they said that this disavowal, too, had been prophesied.

He must be a very, very patient man. I think by now I would have progressed from the hysterical, angry screaming phase of frustration to the sobbing disconsolately in the corner phase.

Categories
volcano

Volcano for Monday

Italy is one of those places where you may think about volcanoes (hello, Pompeii), but you don’t tend to consider tsunami hazards. Apparently they’ve got a real doozy, though, in the form of the Marsili Volcano. It’s an undersea volcano, and there are concerns that an eruption (and the subsequent likely collapse of its sides) could cause a tsunami that would be bad news for Naples and anyone else around the Mediterranean.

And, as usual, the important word about risk:

“While the indications that have been collected are precise, it is impossible to make predictions. The risk is real but hard to evaluate.”

Like with all volcanoes, the possibility is real, but impossible to predict when something might happen. It sounds like “soon,” but we’re also talking a geological “soon.” It could be next week. Or it could be some time long after human beings have colonized other planets and turned Earth in to a giant historical theme park.

Categories
Uncategorized

I may start my coin collection again

These new quarters for 2010 are just beautiful. And feature some of the most stunning geological features in our national parks. So really, what more could you ask for out of a coin?

And yes, I really did have a coin collection, once upon a time. Three giant binders worth, including a set of Mercury dimes that my dad passed on to me. Then when we moved during one summer while I was in high school, the box containing my coin collection mysteriously vanished along the way, and there were way too many boxes for me or my parents to notice it was missing until it was too late. To this day, I’m still pretty sure it got stolen by one of the movers, and I’m still not quite over it.

I wonder where people who collect coins sit in the geeky hierarchy relative to stamp collectors?

Categories
volcano

Volcano for Monday

Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland is erupting, and there are some lovely pictures of it. This is not really surprising; Iceland sits on top of a hotspot and really has a lot in common with Hawaii, at least geologically speaking.

There is apparently also concerns that this eruption could wake up another nearby volcano, Mount Katla, since their eruptions have been linked in the past.

Categories
Uncategorized

Truly Amazing

James Randi came out of the closet today. (Well, technically yesterday, since it’s now after midnight.)

I’ve had the honor of meeting Randi twice, and I respect him deeply, for a multitude of reasons. The first time I met him was in Boulder, for the Conference on World Affairs, and I only got that lucky because I was shamelessly fangirling all over Phil Plait at the time. I’ve looked forward to hearing him speak at TAM and listening to him whenever he’s on a podcast; he’s an utterly charming human being who never runs out of fascinating stories to tell. He’s been an inspiration to me personally, and I think there’s something indescribably wonderful about seeing a man who’s old enough to be my grandfather – and shockingly teeny and just a little frail besides – out there kicking ass and taking names, cutting horrible human beings to shreds with his rapier wit. So now we can add one more thing he’s done to the litany of what makes him deserving of his chosen moniker: Amazing.

And damnit, Randi, you’ve made me go all sniffly now.

Side note: I love what one commenter, FloGiston, says on that post: “Now you’re not only amazing, but fabulous as well!”