Girls suck at video games / Les filles sont nulles aux jeux vidéo from Stéphanie Mercier on Vimeo.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Girls Suck at Video Games...? A Look at Women's Careers
This is an amazingly hilarious social commentary on the obstacles many women face in their careers. Check it out:
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Racist Casting for The Last Airbender
I've got a bone to pick with M. Night Shyamalan. No, not for his abundantly bad movies, but for his racist casting of The Last Airbender. I speak as an anti-racism advocate, as a person of South Asian descent and as an avid fan of the Avatar series.
Take a close look at the cast list. Every actor of color plays a villain, or at least a villain who eventually turns good later on in the series (unfortunately, not a span of time portrayed by this movie). Dev Patel plays Zuko, while the white Noah Ringer plays Aang.
This when in Avatar, Aang is part of the "race" that has the closest resemblance to South Asian and Southeast Asian culture, so much so that they are monks with Buddhist-like philosophies who live in mountain-top "Air Temples" that look like a combination of the towering temple piers in South India and Buddhist temples in mainland Asia
MANAA, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, has been fighting the good fight against the producers of The Last Airbender, but hasn't had much luck. The producers maintain the film has a large amount of diversity. That's like the proponents of The Birth of a Nation (based on Thomas Dixon's The Clansman, which mounted an almost propaganda support for slavery and portrayed the KKK as a group of white knights) claiming that the film isn't racist because it has black characters (played by white actors in blackface). Obviously, I'm not making a case that these two movies are the same or similar, but the concept is the same. White actors play the heroes and the actors of color...well...don't.
Take a close look at the cast list. Every actor of color plays a villain, or at least a villain who eventually turns good later on in the series (unfortunately, not a span of time portrayed by this movie). Dev Patel plays Zuko, while the white Noah Ringer plays Aang.
This when in Avatar, Aang is part of the "race" that has the closest resemblance to South Asian and Southeast Asian culture, so much so that they are monks with Buddhist-like philosophies who live in mountain-top "Air Temples" that look like a combination of the towering temple piers in South India and Buddhist temples in mainland Asia
MANAA, the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, has been fighting the good fight against the producers of The Last Airbender, but hasn't had much luck. The producers maintain the film has a large amount of diversity. That's like the proponents of The Birth of a Nation (based on Thomas Dixon's The Clansman, which mounted an almost propaganda support for slavery and portrayed the KKK as a group of white knights) claiming that the film isn't racist because it has black characters (played by white actors in blackface). Obviously, I'm not making a case that these two movies are the same or similar, but the concept is the same. White actors play the heroes and the actors of color...well...don't.
Top 50 Racist Movies
Complex.com names the Top 50 Most Racist Movies. Some aren't very surprising, but others are interesting, including their pegging of White Chicks for reverse racism. It's a very interesting list.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Coloreds Welcome: Web Goes Un-White
This is a milestone for the web: web addresses with non-Latin characters. Among the first to have one is Egypt's Ministry of Communications. According to BBC, over 20 countries have requested domain approval for non-Latin URLs.
As an English-speaker living in the U.S., I have a slight tinge of anxiety. All these addresses in languages I can't even read, not to mention understand. So many websites I can never visit, things I'll never know. Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled this is happening. My reaction of anxiety is why.
English speakers, whites and Americans have long been encumbered with a sense of entitlement that needs, in my opinion, to be knocked down a few pegs now and again. We feel we have the right to be able to understand everything on the web, or at least be able to read it. Well, this is a landmark move for the under-web-privileged (the non-English, the non-white, the non-Western) countries to take a little piece of the web pie for themselves. And I applaud them.
Read the full story on BBC -->
As an English-speaker living in the U.S., I have a slight tinge of anxiety. All these addresses in languages I can't even read, not to mention understand. So many websites I can never visit, things I'll never know. Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled this is happening. My reaction of anxiety is why.
English speakers, whites and Americans have long been encumbered with a sense of entitlement that needs, in my opinion, to be knocked down a few pegs now and again. We feel we have the right to be able to understand everything on the web, or at least be able to read it. Well, this is a landmark move for the under-web-privileged (the non-English, the non-white, the non-Western) countries to take a little piece of the web pie for themselves. And I applaud them.
Read the full story on BBC -->
Monday, April 5, 2010
iPad vs. Slate: Epic Battle Round 1
HP just released its iPad killer tablet PC, "Slate."
I tried out the iPad today and from the looks of this video, I'm not convinced. iPad has Pages, which is a good enough replacement for Word as far as I'm concerned (for my uses, anyway...mainly typing up papers and writing). Plus it has Numbers, which does all the rudimentary things Excel does. I don't really see a reason to video tape the subway as it passes (I have my phone for that). It would be pretty amazing to be able to video Skype, though.
The one thing I had a problem with on the iPad was the typing. It definitely knocked down my words per minute, but I think as with all new keyboards I can get used to this one fast. Mainly I just had a
problem with the key placement, which is obviously QWERTY but isn't exactly the same as a regular keyboard. I type half with my nails, and that didn't work out so well. It kept missing the keys I typed with my nails, so I'll have to keep mine pretty trimmed if I get an iPad.
Some of the security holes on the iPhone OS seem to have carried over to the iPad, but hopefully Mac will get that patched up pretty soon.
From the video above, the animation tweening and such on the Slate seems extremely second-class. The iPad was a dream to touch and the resolution is mind-blowing. Plus I was hoping to use the Brushes app on the iPad, and I don't think the Slate would be conducive to paint simulation.
I guess we'll see on this one. There's no way the Slate can beat out the iPad. The level of brand loyalty associated with Mac users and the increasing Apple fan-base means that the iPad won't be killed any time soon. Keep trying, HP.
I tried out the iPad today and from the looks of this video, I'm not convinced. iPad has Pages, which is a good enough replacement for Word as far as I'm concerned (for my uses, anyway...mainly typing up papers and writing). Plus it has Numbers, which does all the rudimentary things Excel does. I don't really see a reason to video tape the subway as it passes (I have my phone for that). It would be pretty amazing to be able to video Skype, though.
The one thing I had a problem with on the iPad was the typing. It definitely knocked down my words per minute, but I think as with all new keyboards I can get used to this one fast. Mainly I just had a
problem with the key placement, which is obviously QWERTY but isn't exactly the same as a regular keyboard. I type half with my nails, and that didn't work out so well. It kept missing the keys I typed with my nails, so I'll have to keep mine pretty trimmed if I get an iPad.
Some of the security holes on the iPhone OS seem to have carried over to the iPad, but hopefully Mac will get that patched up pretty soon.
From the video above, the animation tweening and such on the Slate seems extremely second-class. The iPad was a dream to touch and the resolution is mind-blowing. Plus I was hoping to use the Brushes app on the iPad, and I don't think the Slate would be conducive to paint simulation.
I guess we'll see on this one. There's no way the Slate can beat out the iPad. The level of brand loyalty associated with Mac users and the increasing Apple fan-base means that the iPad won't be killed any time soon. Keep trying, HP.
Monday, March 22, 2010
APA Competencies for Counseling with Transgender Clients
The American Psychological Association approved a list of "Competencies for Counseling with Transgender Clients" in Nov 2009. Among the highlights, counselors should:
- "Identify the gender-normative assumptions present in current lifespan development theories and address for these biases in assessment and counseling practices;
- "Recognize that although group support can be very helpful, peer pressure to conform to specific expression or plan of action exists within the group;
- "Acknowledge and address the gatekeeper role and subsequent power that mental health professionals have historically had in transgender clients accessing medical interventions and resulted in mistrust of mental health professionals. This power difference needs to be minimized in the counseling relationship with transgender clients;
- "Recognize research is never free of positive or negative bias by identifying the potential influence personal values, gender bias, and heterosexism may have on the research process (e.g., participant selection, data gathering, interpretation of data, reporting of results, DSM diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder), and seek to address these biases in the best manner possible."
...and many many more. Overall it's an inclusive and important list that will hopefully help trans people attain more positive counseling, and address issues of power and hegemony that haven't been addressed in counselor-client relationships.
- "Identify the gender-normative assumptions present in current lifespan development theories and address for these biases in assessment and counseling practices;
- "Recognize that although group support can be very helpful, peer pressure to conform to specific expression or plan of action exists within the group;
- "Acknowledge and address the gatekeeper role and subsequent power that mental health professionals have historically had in transgender clients accessing medical interventions and resulted in mistrust of mental health professionals. This power difference needs to be minimized in the counseling relationship with transgender clients;
- "Recognize research is never free of positive or negative bias by identifying the potential influence personal values, gender bias, and heterosexism may have on the research process (e.g., participant selection, data gathering, interpretation of data, reporting of results, DSM diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder), and seek to address these biases in the best manner possible."
...and many many more. Overall it's an inclusive and important list that will hopefully help trans people attain more positive counseling, and address issues of power and hegemony that haven't been addressed in counselor-client relationships.
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