Princess Leia | unfridged

Jan 20 2017

Weekend Reading List: New year, new list, new hope

general-leia-organa-2

2016 had to get one last jab in, taking away our beloved Carrie Fisher. The Mary Sue pays tribute. The Cut gives us fifteen of her best quotes. The Rolling Stone looks back on how she championed mental health issues. We all miss her.
You need to listen to 1999 David Bowie talk about the potential of the internet. [io9]
I’ll be honest, I only discovered Sevdaliza’s music by going down the rabbit hole of YouTube recommended videos. But I’m so glad she’s in my life now, with her videos that spin dark fairytales out of hellbeast femmes fatales and gynoid royalty fantasies.
“Sex magic: how to cast spells with your orgasms.” [Broadly]
Afropunk’s compiled a mindblowing list of 10 black cosplayers who killed it last year.
Go look at Amber Thomas’s amazing interactive breakdown of gender equality in the dialogue of 2016’s highest grossing films.
I am very excited about XX, the women-created horror film anthology. Annie Clark (aka St Vincent) is just one of the hugely talented directors contributing. [Little White Lies]
On a similar note, Agnieszka Smoczynska’s The Lure, a film about man-eating, singing mermaids, is out soon. It looks like good fun. [IndieWire]
“We are in the era of the black geek.” [Afropunk]
io9 has a nice piece of writing on superheroes, real life heroes, and teaching children bravery.
Comic Katie Goodman’s song on Alien and inspirational women is very funny.
“The speculative dread of Black Mirror.” [The New Yorker]
The complex interplay between gender and AI is a topic that’s gaining ever-increasing popularity (and relevance) as we continue pushing the capabilities of chatbots, androids, and digital assistants. The New Yorker has an excellent piece on the perils of writing gender into chatbots, and a recent episode of Bitch magazine’s podcast charts the gynoid from Metropolis to Westworld, and beyond.
I CANNOT believe that I forgot to mention that I spoke to Becky Chambers about her novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, for the Mary Sue! It was a great experience, and you can read the interview here.

Tagged Afropunk, Agnieszka Smoczynska, Alien, Amber Thomas, Annie Clark, Becky Chambers, Bitch, Bitch magazine, Bitch Media, Black Mirror, Broadly, Carrie Fisher, David Bowie, Gizmodo, IndieWire, io9, Katie Goodman, Little White Lies, Metropolis, New York Magazine, Princess Leia, Sevdaliza, St Vincent, The Cut, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, The Lure, The Mary Sue, The New Yorker, Vice, Westworld, XX

Jan 01 2016

Weekend Reading List: Jedis, jump scares, and JK Rowling’s approval

Happy New Year!

Here’s a fifteen second teaser for the new season of Orphan Black. Ah!
Rolling Stone put together a list of the ten best horror movies of 2015.
“Unnecessary digs at servants in classic vampire novels.” [The Toast]
“No, Jessica Jones isn’t sexist toward men; Let’s talk about why.” [The Mary Sue]
I’m all for finding creative solutions to video game problems, and this guy nearly broke Fallout 4 by not killing a single person. [Kotaku]
The Guardian reports that an adult Hermione will be black in the upcoming play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and that JK Rowling is extremely pleased with the casting. Bustle has a lovely first person piece on the importance of the decision, but the Mary Sue is less enthusiastic given the casting in the movies, particularly of Lavender Brown.
Okay so now let’s talk about Star Wars:
- The Mary Sue has a review from someone who wasn’t excited about the new film, and it’s called “this Star Wars is MINE” which is pretty much how I ended up feeling about things.
- Also from the Mary Sue is a piece about the importance of Rey, which is worth a look.
- Entertainment Weekly also loved talking about “instant icon” Rey.
- The always funny Mallory Ortberg talked about her ~*~Star Wars feelings~*~ [The Toast]
- Hahaha here is Janelle Monáe talking to C-3PO and R2-D2 goodbye I am dead now.
- Physicists have decided that the Ewoks are probably dead from Death Star fallout. [The Mary Sue]
- This Emo Kylo Ren twitter account is magical.
- People are really, really upset that Carrie Fisher had the temerity to get older and put on weight. Some New York Times scumbag in particular was not okay with it, and it’s bullshit. [RunwayRiot]
- “Princess Leia’s feminist agenda: yeah, she had one.” [Ms. magazine]

Image by Tara H. [doodlesbytara.tumblr.com]

Tagged Bustle, Fallout 4, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Janelle Monáe, JK Rowling, Kotaku, Mallory Ortberg, Orphan Black, Princess Leia, Rolling Stone, Star Wars, Star Wars Episode VII, Tara H., The Guardian, The Mary Sue, The Toast

Nov 23 2014

Weekend Reading List: Shipping, shirts, and sea witches

Sometimes I neglect you for a week, but then there is so much new content when I get back that you have no choice but to forgive me, right? Right:

Here’s a roundup of badass woman-led martial arts movies. [Jezebel]
Remember that 10 hours of street harassment video? Even Princess Leia isn’t safe from similar treatment.
Wil Wheaton wrote a great post for the Washington Post on trolls, online games, and cleaning up the community.
And in a similar “it’s about GamerGate but we’re all kind of collectively done dealing with GamerGate” vein, here’s a funny infographic. [Zen of Design]
Feministing has a piece on scrutiny and thick skin in the wake of GamerGate.
Tamora Pierce’s fantasy novels probably won’t be appearing on screen anytime soon, here’s why. [The Mary Sue]
Ten fictional games we want to play. [Dorkly]
URSULA K. LE GUIN WON A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. It was at this year’s National Book Awards and lady can give one hell of a speech. “Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” Love you, Ursula.
Now for a different Ursula! Y’all know I love me some sea witch, and Buzzfeed agrees that she’s the real star of The Little Mermaid. Obviously. Because I am right.
In fact, io9’s Observation Deck has some pretty great guidelines for writing women villains.
Here’s a short film called “I Ship It,” and it’s all about adorable Hufflepuff love, wizard wrock, and Mary Kate Wiles (of Lizzie Bennett Diaries fame).
Nineteen funniest nude scenes in science fiction and fantasy. Yeah. [io9]
“The history of women in geek culture should not be overlooked.” [Bitch]
Salem has just started and I’m so excited! I haven’t had time to watch it yet, but Autostraddle’s got a recap of the first two episodes.
Bitch has been killing with the scifi/fantasy content lately, and they’ve even got a whole podcast dedicated to feminism in science fiction.
I’m pretty much guaranteed to have mixed feelings about a book titled Barbie: I Can Be… A Computer Engineer, but when it’s this bad, and this sexist, the feelings become a bit less mixed. [Gizmodo]
The Barbie Facebook page has issued an apology for the book after the backlash, the author has made a statement that didn’t really address anyone’s concerns, and you can either create your own dialogue for the book and make it more feminist, or sit back and enjoy a selection of remixes. [The Mary Sue, Feminist Hacker Barbie, Autostraddle]
Hey so it’s pretty cool that we got the Philae spacecraft onto a comet, but less cool is the sexist shirt scientist Matt Taylor chose to wear for the live stream. He has since apologized, and it seems earnestly done, but the Verge, for one, is unimpressed. Women in Astronomy delves further into how microaggresions like these discourage women in STEM fields, and Jezebel reports on the harassment the Atlantic’s Rose Eveleth faced when she dared to criticize the garment.

Top image: “Break the Ocean,” by Olga “Asu” Andriyenko.

Tagged #GamerGate, Autostraddle, Barbie, Barbie: I Can Be... A Computer Engineer, Bitch magazine, Buzzfeed, Dorkly, Feminist Hacker Barbie, Feministing, Harry Potter, I Ship It, io9, Jezebel, Mary Kate Wiles, Matt Taylor, National Book Awards, Netflix, Observation Deck, Olga "Asu" Andriyenko, Philae, Princess Leia, Rose Eveleth, Salem, Star Wars, Tamora Pierce, The Atlantic, The Little Mermaid, The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, The Mary Sue, The Verge, The Washington Post, Ursula, Ursula K. Leguin, Wil Wheaton, Women in Astronomy, Zen of Design

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Tag Archives: Princess Leia

Weekend Reading List: New year, new list, new hope

Weekend Reading List: Jedis, jump scares, and JK Rowling’s approval

Weekend Reading List: Shipping, shirts, and sea witches