The Blood is The Life 20-05-2012

[miss_s_b]

• Maehem Sez : I had an abortion
  Powerful stuff
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• Scarlett Johansson On the Ridiculous, Sexist Portrayals of Superheroines | ThinkProgress
  "It’d be nice to see a superheroine have a relationship, whether it’s with a superhero or a normal person, that’s about providing her with affirmation, with a reason to fight, rather than that acting as an illustration of her weakness."
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• Feminist Whoniverse on River Song's Bi-ness
  I didn't realise River was bi.
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• The Girls' Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse: Know Your Idols #25 Miss Marple
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• Tim Harford — Article — The weighty problem of road and fat taxes
  "What about the cost to the National Health Service? That is certainly a consideration, although don’t be too quick to assume there is a net cost. It’s fairly clear that smoking should, on this logic, be subsidised" - I await my free fags.
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• Coaching, Teaching and Chat, An open letter to Michael Gove
  (tags: )
  
• If the younger generation won't bother to vote, it's no wonder the policies don't favour them
  Thought-provoking Tory is thought-provoking
  (tags: )
  
  

Comments

[gwenhwyfaer]

I'm obese because I'm scared to leave the house when there are people around, thus limiting my ability to exercise (which is, of course, also limited by obesity itself, and by my asthma), and because the consequent boredom and insecurity makes me eat a bit more than I should, and my general crapness with food (which is one of the things that qualifies me for DLA, as it happens) restricts variety and balance. Not only do I not have the first clue how a fat tax is supposed to help me, I see no indication that the people proposing such a measure have actually made any effort to understand the problem they seek to address. That doesn't fill me with confidence in their ability to actually solve that problem. It all smacks of "We must do something. This is something!"

[drunkwriter]

I can't help but think of River's alleged bi-ness as the Moff's last desperate attempt to get someone, anyone, to love River Song as much as he clearly does.

[londonkds]

It can't have been "last" as the line that suggested it was in "Silence in the Library", and the post was complaining about the lack of follow-up since.

[el_staplador]

River! :-D

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to understand the complaint in a way that doesn't amount to "bisexuals should not be portrayed as monogamous".

[londonkds]

Monogamous doesn't necessarily imply "never even looks appreciatively at someone other than your beloved" unless you're extremely morally rigid.

[matgb]

Yeah, that's close to my take on it-Jack's a terrible tart, River's a massive flirt but not really a tart, it makes a change to have someone bi not sleep with everyone in the show for the sake of it.

But more could've been made of it in some way or other, not that it really matters.

[miss_s_b]

I hated River to begin with, then was slowly getting to really like her, and then it turned out that her entire life from start to finish revolves around the doctor and the feminist in me wanted to hit things.

[miss_s_b]

What's brought all this up now is apparently Moff talking about it on twitter.

[miss_s_b]

"We must do something. This is something!"

Ah, the root of so much policy by governments of all stripes.

[haggis]

I had a crush on River Song from the start (probably due to a pre-existing crush on Alex Kingston) but if I think too much about the ending of "Silence in the Library" or the ending of the last series, I find myself in a spiral of rage. It seems like incredible cruelty to lock up a woman who spent her life exploring unknown worlds in a fake-suburban-bubble with no possibility of escape, and the fact that no-one in the production team even notices this is cruel just boggles me.

[miss_s_b]

I have one word for the obliviousness of the production team to cruelty to female characters: Ursula.

[haggis]

Bloody hell, I'd forgotten about that.

[drunkwriter]

I was broadly River-neutral to begin with, and meh when she started popping up in Season 5. But her ubiquity has now turned her into a Season 8 Master for the 21st Century. I can see how she annoys from a feminist angle, but mostly I'm just bored to tears by her now.

[gwenhwyfaer]

To me that would seem to suggest it was a nod to RTD's ethos, rather than something Moffat would have done on his own.