At Tor.com, Liz Bourke has a great rebuttal directed towards certain authors of historical fiction and historically flavoured fantasy, who excuse their lack of significant female and GLBT characters as well as characters of colour with “Well, that’s the way it was” and offers plenty of examples.
Paul Gravett offers a history of the Comics Code with illustrations. Found via Charles Tan. Check out the first head of the Comics Code Authority, a very old lady who apparently gave up her whole identity when she got married, since she is only referred to as Mrs. Some Man’s Name. Why is it whenever some sort of voluntary self-control (which is usually neither voluntary nor self-control) is implemented, they always choose the people least likely to actually enjoy the media they are supposed to rate?
While researching something else, I came across this online archive of posters for all sorts of politically left activist events, which gives a great overview of the aesthetics of left social movements in Germany. The same site also offers PDF scans of an alternative magazine from the 1960s and 1970s.
The New York Times has an article about a fashion phenomenon I find problematic (as does the author of the article), namely that there are way too many sleeveless tops and dresses these days. The author of the article pinpoints the origin of the trend for bare arms and sleeveless dresses to Michelle Obama, but at least here in Europe sleeveless outfits have been dominant for far longer than four years. And yes, I find it problematic because I have very broad shoulders and look horrible in sleeveless outfits. Never mind that very few people actually have nice upper arms. Most of the time they’re either too fleshy or too skinny or too muscular or too flabby.
German actor, comedian and entertainer Dirk Bach died today aged only 51. The Spiegel has a longer obituary. In addition to being a very talented actor and comedian, Dirk Bach was one of the celebrities who furthered the social acceptance of gays and lesbians simply by being open about his gayness. Legend has it that he was accidentally outed by his fellow comedienne and friend Hella von Sinnen, who used to share a house with Bach and got so sick of journalists asking when they would get married that she finally answered, “Never, cause I’m lesbian and he’s gay.”
My favourite Dirk Bach skits are not available online, but I quite enjoyed this one where Dirk Bach and Hella von Sinnen engage in misery olympics. Dirk Bach is the short one with the grey wig BTW.
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