Category Archives: Nerdy

Boner List, August Edition

Written by serene. Filed under Nerdy, Seattle. No comments.

1.  Project Runway, season 8.

Why, oh why, does this hot mess of a show draw me in every season? Historically, I swear and curse and facepalm my way through a season to declare that I WILL NEVER WASTE MY TIME AGAIN. And then months pass without Tim Gunn or Santino Rice wannabes (NO ONE works a soundbite like those men do), and I get sucked in again. Thus far, this season is a snorefest.

2.  Pacific Science Center.

The last time I went to Seattle Center’s interactive Pacific Science Center, I was probably wearing my favorite purple Guess Jeans and those rad L.A. Gear with silver sparkles in the shoelaces.  I probably harbored a crush on Kasey Gunderson (the first boy I danced with) and most certainly had a thing for Jordan Knight (NKOTB RULES!).

Only time will tell if my fashion sense has improved, but I had as much fun at the science center as a 31 year old that I did as a 12 year old. My nerdlove for science will never die. And who knew that exhibit curators have a sense of humor? The photo below was from the amazing Circus exhibit, where people could wiggle their sexy selves into a harness and walk a tight rope or long rope.

3.  Plants.

Despite my brown-black thumb, I’m trying to grow green stuff in my apartment again. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be, but I’ve convinced myself that I am getting high from all the extra oxygen in my apartment. Plus, I’m pretty sure they love the new Scissor Sisters album as much as I do.

4. Reel Grrls.

I’m really excited to start my Design and Marketing internship with this group next month. The organization teaches young women how to shoot and edit their own films. It’s a perfect pairing of my political and creative ambitions, so wish me luck!

5.  Lupin cherries from Broadway Farmers Market.

I could eat pounds of fresh cherries, especially when they come from Martin Family Orchards. Seriously, every varietal of cherry I have had from their stand has been mind-blowing.

Au Revoir Scott

Written by serene. Filed under Culture Club, Nerdy. No comments.

As you probably know, the venerable Scott Pilgrim series is now over.

(If you are perplexed as to why this is transitioning into a mourning post since the movie and the video game are about to be released, get thee to Neighborhood Comic Shoppe. Buy each volume. Return when you are done. )

I am uncomfortably sad. Not because the sixth volume let me down, but because this is an end of an era.

The last six years of reading Scott Pilgrim have been monumental. The series had wild and unpredictable arcs that mirrored my own crazy years. I cycled through apartments, moved across state and country lines, fell in love a couple of times, and through all the ups and downs somehow still developed into a functional adult. The development of Scott’s character mirrors my own changes, probably because creator Bryan Lee O’Malley is the same age as I am. This may be a reach, but I feel like the maturation in art and tone and direction from O’Malley (and by extension, Scott Pilgrim) reflect the same journey of improvement and challenges that I have taken on. It’s as if we were all on this wild ride of our twenties together and we have all the missteps and bad decisions and weird lettering patterns to show for it. Now the ride is over.

I won’t even attempt to review volume 6. For one thing, it’s been reviewed all over the internet. But most importantly, I am not sure how critical I can be of the book. I will say this though – it was a lovely ending.

Of course I’ll see the movie and I’ll buy the video game. But honestly, there is nothing that means more to me than looking at my bookshelf to see my autographed and nowhere near mint condition copy of volume 1 that shows the wear that only six years of re-reads and loans and moves can make. It reminds me that there was a time when Bryan was so unknown that I ordered my copy directly from him (this makes me excited for my own future success). It reminds me of the person that got me into the series. It reminds me of all the friends that I have forced to read it.

Scott P. and I…well…we’ve been through a lot. It’s been a fun six years.

Feminism 101: history

Written by serene. Filed under Nerdy, Politics. 1 Comment.

Gather ’round the campfire. I want you to love me as much as I love you, so this here is community building hour. Today feels like a good day to address those who read my blog and bristle at my references of feminist politics. I figured I might break down some of the basics. We all need to speak the same language to understand each other, right?

This is in no way comprehensive, nor should this replace cracking open a real book. I’ve got loads and loads of books to loan out, so let me know if this topic amps you up.

(Hey! Don’t roll your eyes at me. I can see you through the intertubes.)

So with that rambling introduction, know your history.

There are three ‘waves’ of feminism to remember.

The first wave was late 1800’s to early 1900’s. The primary political goal was suffrage (right to vote). You have women such as Susan B. Anthony and Margaret Sanger causing a ruckus. This period is important, but incredibly problematic. For example, Margaret Sanger – the woman who spearheaded the demand for reproductive freedom and birth control pills – was a fan of Eugenics and used primarily Puerto Rican women as lab rats for the testing of birth control pills.

The second wave started in the early 1960’s and ends in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s. This is when you start seeing visible activists (see: bra burning, Gloria Steinem, Women’s Liberation March) and coalition building. Though a gross oversimplification,  the second wave was born out of women (or Rosie the Riveter as a cultural reference) being forced back into the homes after WWII. This is notable because during WWII women entered the job market en masse, making lots of money and celebrating a period of independence. Then, the soldiers came back. For some whacky reason, they wanted jobs. So the 1950’s were shaped by significant cultural constructions of family and home and femininity, ensuring that there was a return to the pre-WWII social structures. The second wave feminists fought this regression; they wanted jobs, education, equality, and peace.The consciousness-raising and slogan-coining were positive events…for white, middle-class women. The problem with the political goals of the second wave is they assumed many things: women weren’t working, women had access to education, and women had class mobility. The race and class issues propelled the evolution feminist politics.

The third wave is the result of race and class clashes in the second wave feminist era. The time period is the early 1990’s to the present. It is in this moment that the narrow and singular focus of the second wave has been abandoned for a lot of anti-racist work and community outreach. I would argue that the third wave was borne out of the Riot Grrrl movement. There was an incorporation of anti-capitalist, queer activism, and anti-racist rhetoric. The third wave is characterized by branching out of strict gender equality battles and embracing intersectionality.

Alright kids, that wraps up your first feminist lesson. I promise it won’t always be so boring. But, like I said above, know your history. The battles of the feminist movement are rooted in some epic failures and in-fighting among feminists, but countered by bad-ass bravery and standing up for what you believe in.

Boner List, July Edition

Written by serene. Filed under Culture Club, Nerdy, Photography. No comments.

1.  Fuck Yeah Daniel Clowes

True fact: if you don’t like Daniel Clowes, we cannot be friends.

2. Kayaking

Sure, you might look like a d-b, but it’s fun. And if you are super fancy and fashion forward you can bring a beer in a cozy to complete the amazing ensemble of fat suit life-jackets and awkward (flailing) rowing.

3. Sunshine in Seattle
Glasses

It appears that we will be breaching the 80 degree mark in Seattle this week. This means that the hipsters will break out their cut off skinny pant shorts, the curmudgeons will begin smiling at fellow humans, and people will fall in love. Summer in Seattle is epic in its awesomeness.

4. Smena 8M

Once upon a time I bought this old toy lomo camera. The translated “instruction manual” is hilarious, as it is full of unhelpful and poorly constructed tips that apparently were at one point helpful in Russian. My first roll will be hilarious (if I can figure out how to actually remove the film), and I promise to post the inevitable disaster to my flickr account.

5. Jenny Peterson photography

This Seattle photographer came to my attention when I needed an injection of inspiration the most. Her work is full of humor and weirdness and awesome light. Check it out.

What have you guys been checking out?

OMGOMGOMG

Written by serene. Filed under Nerdy. 2 Comments.

I know it’s old news, but still….NERDBONER. So, so excited. In case you didn’t know, Scott P. and I are like *this*.

Why I Hated FF XIII

Written by serene. Filed under Nerdy. 3 Comments.

Let’s sit around the warm and cozy internet fire and have a litttle nerd time, shall we?

I will admit something that may or may not come as a shocker: I love Final Fantasy. I know I’m not the only one. My love all for Final Fantasy is about as deep as they come. I’ve played FF for years: I have many adolescent and adult hours hours glued to my SNES, PS1, PS2, Nintendo DS, and now my PS3. Now that I have extolled my deep and historic love for the series, let’s change gears. Oh ye Game gods, open-up the flood gates and let the nerd rage flow in… I HATE FF XIII.

First, way too many cut scenes. For example, during chapter 3, I’d play for about 3 minutes, be interrupted by some very fancy looking scene that would last another 6 minutes, and then go back to have the same cycle repeat. Sure, it was pretty. But it gets old, fast. Especially if you die during battle and have to watch the whole cut scene over again.

Next, there seems to be a lack of skill required. You walk along, you fight mercilessly and without strategy, you survive, and your health is restored at the end of the battle. YAWN. Try again, Square Enix.

Last, the architecture seems weird. There are no levels. There are no shops (you just buy materials at save points). And that whole linear-progression until you are deep in the game.

It felt like a giant disappointment. But don’t get me wrong, you know I’ll be playing FF XIV in September. I just don’t know when to walk away.

Art Projects

Written by serene. Filed under Nerdy, Photography. 2 Comments.

My summer will be all about art. I miss my creativity. I sometimes look at my negatives and my journals and sketchbooks and see all the verve and excitement and wonder where all that energy went. Then I remember being in school full-time and being trapped under oppressive gray skies and quickly see why I am tapped.

I digress! If you are in Seattle and need of some crafty or arty energy, hit me up. Maybe we can help each other out. My only request is that you be comfortable in front of a camera and not be a total turd.

Apropos everything

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Watch this video first.

Okay, now we are on the same page. Not to point out the obvious to anyone, but the Media (yes, capital M implying a singular entity, which I defend with giant conglomerate media companies) – it is a cesspool of suckage. It is a buy-product of an era where people had at most two venues for information (newspaper and network television), mediated by whatever network affiliates found interesting for the day. It is dying. And it is scary because it is the thing I always thought I would be involved with, career-wise. I think this video gently pokes fun at how predictable, unimaginative, and formulaic it comes across to audiences.

Now we have Twitter, RSS feeds, and even Facebook to receive what we consider pertinent information. The question that haunts me, and shapes most of my academic interest, is what classifies information as pertinent. Is it demarcated as interesting because it pops up in a news feed of Facebook, or truncated in a 140 character tweet? It’s a complicated issue to think about, considering how diverse motivations for information gathering can be. For some, news is simply something to talk to others about (social stitching?) and for others, it is to be engaged in a global environment.

This is an open-ended dialogue. What does news look like to you? Why is it useful? What types of information are compelling to you?

HHG

Written by serene. Filed under Culture Club, I am a sap, Nerdy. No comments.

In the perpetually swelling and inspiring nerd universe there is a demigod named Neil Gaiman. The man wields words like swords and has birthed some of the most important cultural texts (Coraline, The Sandman, Fragile Things, et al.). The meringue on this bespectacled nerd pie is that he once graced the stage of The Colbert Report. Trust me when I say this man walks hallowed ground.

Anyway, he once said something truly inspiring worth sharing on this dawn of a new decade:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t to forget make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

I cannot muster the energy for resolutions, for a variety of reasons which are not interesting enough to share, but His Holy Gaiman definitely inspires me to muster the will to surprise myself this year. Here’s to you, here’s to the continued expansion of the nerd universe, and here’s to surprises.

Merry GIF day to you

Written by serene. Filed under Nerdy, Photography. 4 Comments.

There just weren’t words to capture how hilarious this moment was, so I had to make an animated GIF to share.

(p.s. Making an animated GIF in CS4 is hard. Try it sometime.)