Swiped from boingboing Submitterator: A look at the man behind the IT Crowd.

I live in the States. I love the BBC. I love the IT Crowd. And even though I am a writer, I often times forget about the writers behind a lot of my favorite shows. So it's always nice to be reminded of that. Also, apparently it's one guy writing this show. One dude. It's one six episodes a series, but still. One guy writing everything!

via Boing Boing.

Punch and Judy: A study in violence.

My parents' generation (the baby boomers) often get upset at the horrible violence that's on TV. What could that crap be doing to the children? Oh! Think of the children! For a time, I just shook my head and agreed. But then the internet came along and I started to discover gems like Punch and Judy. A show my father remembers well and talks fondly of. I don't think he realizes the horrible, horrible madness that was hand puppetry then.

Splinters: Surfing in Papua New Guinea

If you've been reading this blog at all then you know that I love documentaries. But what you probably don't know nor do man people in my real life know is that I love surfing. I own a surfboard. I watch surf movies to relax. I really love it.

The problem though is that I am a landlocked fool in the heart of the Midwest. Indiana doesn't offer much surf spots unless I go wild and decide to hit the probably disease filled lakes in the north. So I have to say that I love it when a film comes along that combines both my love of cultural documentaries and surfing. This looks like an awesome doc and I can not wait for it to be released.

From the site: 

Splinters is the first feature-length documentary film about the evolution of indigenous surfing in the developing nation of Papua New Guinea. In the 1980s an intrepid Australian pilot left behind a surfboard in the seaside village of Vanimo. Twenty years on, surfing is not only a pillar of village life but also a means to prestige. With no access to economic or educational advancement, let alone running water and power, village life is hermetic. A spot on the Papua New Guinea national surfing team is the way to see the wider world; the only way.

 

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

I was introduced to Wes Anderson in early college/late high school. I don't remember how or where or exactly when it happened, but I know the movie. It was Rushmore. That strangely European, magically American film of teenage wonderment. It hooked me right away.

After that, I found myself drawn to movies normally out of my comfort zone. The Criterion Collection became a new friend. Before that I liked movies. I watched lots of movies. But they were mostly bad B-movies and weird 1930s serials. I still watched those and kept them in my life, but I graduated to French directors and Japanese epics after that. Though I never seemed to have the money for most of the films I wanted. It was down to renting, which is fine and will be my way for the foreseeable future.

Boycotting Girl Scouts Continued...

So, I just read Phil's take on the video about boycotting Girl Scout cookies because the GSUSA (Girl Scouts of the United States of America) allows transgender children to join and I agree with his sentiment. If a child is born MAAB (male assigned at birth), but self-identifies as a girl and wants to live as a girl, I don't understand why there is an issue with this child joining Girl Scouts or participating in other groups and organizations specifically geared toward girls. This child is a girl because she says she is a girl, end of story.

After watching the video, it's clear to me that the person speaking in this video doesn't really know what it means for a person to be transgender. Drawing parallels between a transgender girl, or as I like to say, girl, joining the Girl Scouts and a cisgender boy wanting to join Girl Scouts is way off base. It is a completely different scenario and most people are intelligent enough to realize that.

I cannot stress enough that trans* people aren't pretending to be something they are not to join your club or your organization. Trans* people aren't scary sexual deviants that are trying to break into the Girl Scouts to have sex with your children. Transgender people exist in this world and more often than not are just trying to carve a life for themselves where they can just exist in a way that is comfortable to them. Trans* people do not need to apologize for occupying space and joining social organizations that are aligned with their gender identity. If anyone is giving the Girl Scouts of the United States a bad name, it is the girl scouts that are behind the group making this video, Honest Girl Scouts. Take a look around their website and you will find ideas even more alarming than their take on trans* kids joining Girl Scouts. They are anti-women, anti-civil rights for GLBT people, and they are spewing a bunch of hateful, ignorant garbage.

Boycotting Girl Scouts over Transgenders is a Load of Poop

I just watched the video of a girl scout asking for a boycott of selling cookies until transgendered females are removed from the organization. It was strange.

There are some problems that people can nitpick on this video. But there is just one major problem that I am having with it. That problem is the girl scout's inability to recognize a male to female (mtf) transgender as a woman. She makes the often uneducated assumption that trans people are simply playing dress up or messing around. That the boys who are wishing to enter the Girl Scouts are doing so as secretive perverted spies or something.

Nope. Wrong.

Horror Host Svengoolie Shrew Opening

I grew up in Northwest Indiana. One of the few great things about that was receiving Chicago television with just an antenna. Thankfully, Chicago has a great history of local television. And one of the best and from what I hear, still thriving, is Svengoolie. A throwback to the late night horror hosts, Svengoolie was often on during the mid-Saturday mornings competing with stuff like Animaniacs and boring judge shows. How did he make it?

Svengoolie is not the original Svengoolie. There was one before him. When the current took over, he called himself Son of Svengoolie until the original told him he was grown up enough to take on the full name. Thus, the modern Svengoolie was born. The host has a great sense of humor and doesn't take himself too seriously. He leans into his cheap production values and just rolls with it, making for a great watch, not matter what.