Breast Cancer Ad does two things
I’m fairly certain a lot of people have seen this video.
It is about an app that helps women check themselves for breast cancer. And it just so happens to feature a few shirtless hot guys helping to inform people about the app (ya know, if you can take your eyes off of Anthony’s abs for a second).
This ad does something else very important, and it’s caused quite a stir in the comments on Youtube for this video. Lots of men complaining about it, but totally missing the point.
Each and every day in advertising, women are objectified in order to sell a product. Even when the product has nothing to do with sex. There’s a Hot Pocket ad out there that is really objectifying, and seriously, if I’m eating a Hot Pocket (first, yuck!) I’m not thinking of sex. There’s the subtle Subway print ad with a sub being used as a phallic symbol. At one end of the sub is a women with her mouth open.
But the above ad received a few complaints (many of those from men’s rights activities, so you can guess what kind of complaints they were about). However, the ad itself did something that another very simple ad did quite successfully. And both ads managed to start a conversation.
A story of writing using gifs
I am struttin’ my stuff today, because I am quite close to completing the first book of Rocket Fox.
So I feel it’s appropriate to do a jig. Or a shimmy, as the case may be.
There were times when I took a look at what I was doing and just thought…
It seemed a great deal larger than I had originally planned. But, I managed to carry on and pounce on the idea.
Oh, I know there are going to be those who will bemoan what I’ve been doing, saying it’s not worth it, you really shouldn’t try, so on an so forth. I, however, have a few things to say to that.
There are those that have stuck by what I’ve been doing and have taken note of several things. This is a first draft, after all. While the writing of the first book is near completion, there’s still a long way to go. So, to those who support me…
So, because I’m in such a good mood, and my work is nearing completion…
(animated gifs are not all of my creation, save for two from Champions Online, the remaining are from YouTube, Star Wars, Star Trek, Treasure Planet, Firefly, the Office, Pirates of the Caribbean, M*A*S*H, and Robin Hood)
Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Official Gameplay Trailer – YouTube
Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Official Gameplay Trailer – YouTube.
Rocket Fox is taking a small break while I hunker down in a hole and play Skyrim.
Yes, I will never see the light of day AGAIN (thanks a lot Bethesda)!
On an unrelated note (yet, somewhat related), I’ve been looking through my notes for Black Mask & Pale Rider, and the journey Pania Alow (Pale Rider) takes. At one point in the book Black Mask & Pale Rider: A Tale of Six Gun and Sorcery, Pania is approached by the goddess the Shining Lady, whom the Knights of the Order of the Scarlet Rose follow. She informs Pania that she is on a path that no mere skald has ever walked before. In time, Pania becomes a paladin. But as the elves of Terra-Kal are long lived, the usual bonded mount which is often thought of as a horse wouldn’t be good enough. An elven paladin would have to quest to find a new mount every ten years or so.
Therefore…
What if Pania’s destiny was to become bonded to a dragon.
Jeff Wayne War of the Worlds – Eve of the War
Jeff Wayne war of the worlds – eve of the war – YouTube.
This is such an excellent recreation of H. G. Wells War of the Worlds. I have listened to the entire thing, and it matches the book so well. Eve of the War and Thunderchild are two of my favourite pieces in this adaption of classic science fiction.
Avaaz.org: Save the Internet
I’ve noticed this going around in newsgroups, on my tumblr, around twitter, and a bunch of other places. A bill that the United States government is going to try and pass that will basically give them free reign to block websites without warning. Here’s the skinny from Avaaz.org.
Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world’s Internet – creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!
Under the new law, the US could force Internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users’ activities. And, because so much of the Internet’s hosts and hardware are located in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us.
The vote could happen any day now, but we can help stop this — champions in Congress want to preserve free speech and tell us that an international outcry would strengthen their hand. Let’s urgently raise our voices from every corner of the world and build an unprecedented global petition calling on US decision makers to reject the bill and stop Internet censorship. Click below to sign and then forward as widely as possible – our message will be delivered directly to key members of the US Congress ahead of the crucial vote:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
For years, the US government has condemned countries like China and Iran for their clampdown on Internet use. But now, the impact of America’s new censorship laws could be far worse — effectively blocking sites to every Internet user across the globe.
Last year, a similar Internet censorship bill was killed before reaching the US Senate floor, but it’s now back in a different form. Copyright laws already exist and are enforced by courts. But this new law goes much further — granting the government and big corporations enormous powers to force service providers and search engines to block websites based just on allegations of violations — without a trial or being found guilty of any crime!
US free speech advocates have already raised the alarm, and some key Senators are trying to gather enough support to stop this dangerous bill. We have no time to lose. Let’s stand with them to ensure American lawmakers preserve the right to a free and open Internet as an essential way for people around the world to exchange ideas, share communication and work collectively to build the world we want. Sign below to stop US censorship, and save the Internet as we know it:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
In the past months, from the Arab Spring to the global Occupy Movement, we’ve seen first hand how the Internet can galvanize, unify and change the world. Now, if we stand together, we can stop this new attack on Internet freedom. We’ve done it before — in Brazil and Italy, Avaaz members have won major victories in the fight for a free Internet. Let’s take the fight global, and mobilize to defeat the most powerful censorship threat that the Internet has ever seen.
With hope,
Luis, Dalia, Diego, Emma, Ricken, Aaron, Antonia, Benjamin and the rest of the Avaaz team
More information:
Op-Ed: Blacklist Bill allows Feds to remove websites from Internet (Digital Journal)
http://digitaljournal.com/article/313463
Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It’s Worse than Ever (EFF)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/disastrous-ip-legislation-back-%E2%80%93-and-it%E2%80%99s-worse-ever
Silicon Valley legislators oppose online piracy act (SFGate)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/15/BUO81LV0KI.DTL
House Hearing on Stop Online Piracy Act Scheduled (PC World)
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243659/house_hearing_on_stop_online_piracy_act_scheduled.html
Growing Chorus of Opposition to “Stop Online Piracy Act”
https://www.cdt.org/report/growing-chorus-opposition-stop-online-piracy-act
The stop online piracy act: summary, problems, and implications
https://www.cdt.org/files/pdfs/SOPA%202-pager%20final.pdf
Why Is Justin Bieber So Pissed Off?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/why-is-justin-bieber-so-p_b_1071055.html
So that’s the deal. Kind of like a police state scenario where you can’t say or do anything unless the government , or in this case the MPAA, the RIA and other corporations that want to block websites based solely on a suspicion of copyright infringement. To the layman, it may mean that these corporations are just targeting piracy sites like the Pirate Bay or Bittorrent. But a law like this could mean someone might take issue with a fan site, or a forum, or YouTube itself.
Change.org: Anti-gay bullying and the Toronto Blue Jays
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| Ask the Toronto Blue Jays to stand up against anti-gay bullying and make an “It Gets Better” video
What you may not know is that all of the teams who’ve made videos so far — the Giants, Cubs, Red Sox and Orioles — did so after being petitioned by their fans on Change.org.
Unfortunately, the sports world is often called the “home of homophobia.” Currently, there are zero openly gay men playing pro sports — and it’s no wonder, as anti-gay slurs are frequently used to taunt opponents and officials. The Blue Jays have an important opportunity to show LGBT kids that their sports heroes are willing to combat homophobia by making an “It Gets Better” video. More than 20,000 “It Gets Better” videos have been uploaded to YouTube since Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller recorded their compelling personal story in response to an epidemic of suicides last year by gay kids, and kids perceived to be gay. Will the Toronto Blue Jays join eight other teams and courageously stand up against anti-gay bullying of kids? Please join Alisa and ask the Blue Jays to step up to the plate and make an “It Gets Better” video:
Thanks for taking action, - Eden and the Change.org team |
Now a Toronto Blue Jays fan, Alisa Gayle, has asked the Blue Jays to make an “It Gets Better” video — and she needs your help. Change.org: Saudi Arabian YouTube scandal
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The most controversial YouTube clip in Saudi Arabia this week doesn’t feature obscenity, violence, or sex.
It’s an 8-minute video of a woman driving a car.
Technically, Manal al-Sharif didn’t do anything wrong. She has a valid U.S. driver’s license, recognized in Saudi Arabia, and she had her brother’s permission as well as her brother himself beside her as her requisite accompanying male relative.
Yet Saudi police arrested and imprisoned Manal for eight days for defying a long-standing ban against women driving.
That’s why Saudi women activists have created an urgent Change.org petition to demand that King Abdullah and the Saudi royal family drop charges against Manal. They describe the petition as “a call for solidarity with Saudi women’s rights.”
Click here to add your name to their petition.
In Saudi Arabia, women cannot vote, hold property, or even open a bank account alone. Most institutions are segregated by sex, with unequal access for women—in other words, gender apartheid.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world in which women cannot drive. Additional prohibitions against taking buses, riding bikes, and appearing in public alone essentially rule out independent travel for women.
For Manal, as a divorced, working mother, restrictions on travel create an immense burden. Her male relatives can’t drive her daily, but private drivers cost an unaffordable $300-400 per month. Taxis are scarce, and drivers frequently exploit and harass female passengers.
Manal’s act of protest is part of a historic campaign encouraging Saudi women to begin driving en masse on June 17. Click here to join the petition to have charges against her dropped and bolster her efforts.
Without significant support, Manal may face harsh penalties. Saudi cleric and government leader Sheik Ghazi al-Shemri is calling for Manal to “be flogged in the women’s marketplace as a model and a lesson.”
Leading Saudi women’s activists tell us that placing international pressure on King Abdullah is critical to ensuring Manal’s safety — and to galvanizing the June 17 movement.
Click here to add your name to this petition urging King Abdullah to drop these unjust charges against Manal al-Sharif:
http://www.change.org/petitions/drop-charges-against-saudi-woman-arrested-for-driving-a-car/
Related articles
- Defying the driving ban in Saudi Arabia (feministphilosophers.wordpress.com)
- Manal Alsharif another women standing up in the Middle East (rajcairnsreport.wordpress.com)
- The Lede: A Saudi Activist, in Her Own Words (thelede.blogs.nytimes.com)
- The Lede: More Saudi Women Record Driving Videos (thelede.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Follow Up of the Day: Manal al-Sharif Released From Prison (thedailywh.at)
Awesome videos of the week
An interesting collection this week, beginning with one that is near and dear to every geeks heart. What if George Lucas was born twenty or thirty years earlier? And what if Star Wars came out in the 50′s?
Here’s what you might get.
Nature is an awe inspiring and amazing thing. And people should realize this already. While I’ve never actually seen massive hail stones fall from the sky, I have read about it a lot. These people in this video have never seen it up close either. Well, I guess they have now. From the comfort of their house, they watch baseball sized hail bombard a swimming pool. Excuse the “oh my god” and “this is insane” and “I’ve never seen this before” every five seconds.
Birthdays are awesome. Getting a surprise birthday party, even better. Being a Danish bus driver and your employer arranges a surprise birthday party for you while driving your route… priceless!
The group Improve Everywhere has done some pretty awesome things, all to make people laugh and smile. This is no different when they take to doing Ghost Busters cosplay to the next level in the New York Public Library. The reaction of the bystanders is priceless when the ghosts walk in to “check out some books”.
This one’s made the rounds already a few times. But, it’s a cat. And I can’t have a video post without a cat.
I can see the captions now: Suckling – yer doin’ it wrong. Suckling kitteh is suckling.
I remember GnR way back in the day, when Appetite for Destruction was getting more reviews for potty mouth than actual musical cred. Guess potty mouth helped, because AfD scored a lotta sales and has gone down in history as a (I can’t believe I’m saying this) classic. But this just in (I also can’t believe I’m saying this), GnR shoulda had Fergie as their lead singer. Really!
Finally this week, from the Vancouver Film School, a wonderful short animation. Check VFS Youtube channel out sometime.
This was created by Vancouver Film School student Patrick Biason through the VFS Sound Design for Visual Media program. Visual Media provided by Blur Studio.
