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Also, apparently Veronica Taylor and Rachael Lillis (Ash and Misty’s US VAs) have been hanging out together today, and Rachael has tweeted two short videos of them doing voice impressions. I can’t figure out how to embed videos from twitter but here they are:

https://twitter.com/RachaelLillis/status/788404655243923456

“Ash is driving me around L.A.” “Yeah, and Misty is just… driving me crazy.”

https://twitter.com/RachaelLillis/status/788415220196651008

“Ash, this is a dead end!” “Um, yeah, but… always full of possibilities!”

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*punches Asano in the face* I just really love Nana you know *dropkicks Shoji* it’s such an amazing work of Josei fiction *hogties Takumi and throws him out of a moving vehicle* I could watch it again and again five stars

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I wanted my first-year film students to understand what happens to a story when actual human beings inhabit your characters, and the way they can inspire storytelling. And I wanted to teach them how to look at headshots and what you might be able to tell from a headshot. So for the past few years I’ve done a small experiment with them.

Some troubling shit always occurs.

It works like this: I bring in my giant file of head shots, which include actors of all races, sizes, shapes, ages, and experience levels. Each student picks a head shot from the stack and gets a few minutes to sit with the person’s face and then make up a little story about them. 

Namely, for white men, they have no trouble coming up with an entire history, job, role, genre, time, place, and costume. They will often identify him without prompting as “the main character.” The only exception? “He would play the gay guy.” For white women, they mostly do not come up with a job (even though it was specifically asked for), and they will identify her by her relationships. “She would play the mom/wife/love interest/best friend.” I’ve heard “She would play the slut” or “She would play the hot girl.” A lot more than once.

For nonwhite men, it can be equally depressing. “He’s in a buddy cop movie, but he’s not the main guy, he’s the partner.” “He’d play a terrorist.” “He’d play a drug dealer.” “A thug.” “A hustler.” “Homeless guy.” One Asian actor was promoted to “villain.”

For nonwhite women (grab onto something sturdy, like a big glass of strong liquor), sometimes they are “lucky” enough to be classified as the girlfriend/love interest/mom, but I have also heard things like “Well, she’d be in a romantic comedy, but as the friend, you know?” “Maid.” “Prostitute.” “Drug addict.”

I should point out that the responses are similar whether the group is all or mostly-white or extremely racially mixed, and all the groups I’ve tried this with have been about equally balanced between men and women, though individual responses vary. Women do a little better with women, and people of color do a little better with people of color, but female students sometimes forget to come up with a job for female actors and black male students sometimes tell the class that their black male actor wouldn’t be the main guy.

Once the students have made their pitches, we interrogate their opinions. “You seem really sure that he’s not the main character – why? What made you automatically say that?” “You said she was a mom. Was she born a mom, or did she maybe do something else with her life before her magic womb opened up and gave her an identity? Who is she as a person?” In the case of the “thug“, it turns out that the student was just reading off his film resume. This brilliant African American actor who regularly brings houses down doing Shakespeare on the stage and more than once made me weep at the beauty and subtlety of his performances, had a list of film credits that just said “Thug #4.” “Gang member.” “Muscle.” Because that’s the film work he can get. Because it puts food on his table.

So, the first time I did this exercise, I didn’t know that it would turn into a lesson on racism, sexism, and every other kind of -ism. I thought it was just about casting. But now I know that casting is never just about casting, and this day is a real teachable opportunity. Because if we do this right, we get to the really awkward silence, where the (now mortified) students try to sink into their chairs. Because, hey, most of them are proud Obama voters! They have been raised by feminist moms! They don’t want to be or see themselves as being racist or sexist. But their own racism and sexism is running amok in the room, and it’s awkward.

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radical softness, Lora Mathis This softness & unapologetic vulnerability is a tactic against a society which prioritizes hardness and a lack of emotions. Strength doesn’t have to mean turning off emotions. It can be sharing yourself openly. It can be choosing to share those difficult emotions in-order to make others feel less alone and to create a space of healing. It can be refusing to be sorry for how you feel.

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We need to talk more about chronic physical illness and disability

We need to try harder to understand the wide range of conditions contained under the umbrella term “disabled” 

And by “we” I’m including disabled people in that, because we should be telling our own stories and listening to each other

But this is mostly targeted at able-bodied people because I do not see nearly enough dialogue on this and I’m not blaming anyone for that, but I want us to do better 

Suggestions to be a better ally to your disabled and/or chronically ill friends:

Google is your friend - If somebody is willing to share their medical information with you, you may want to ask about their specific experiences with it, but it’s appreciated if you do your own independent research to understand what they’re going through. It gets exhausting having to explain our symptoms and illnesses to everyone we meet. 

Think about accessibility when making plans - should be pretty self-explanatory, and this is very much dependent on the person, but if you’re inviting someone to hang out, try to consider the accessibility of the venue or event. 

Accessibility also includes level of activity, access to food/water, environmental factors, etc. - some people, for example, cannot tolerate excessive heat for long periods of time, or may be able to tolerate it, but will find it extremely unpleasant.

Ask us about our needs and limits - these things all depend on the person. When you’re considering the accessibility of an event, you should probably ask the person what they can handle rather than assuming that something will be manageable (or assuming that it will be too difficult for them). If you’re close and you’ve already had similar conversations, the circumstances may be different, but this is an important rule. 

Let us complain - sometimes that means being silent for a bit and just listening to us vent. We may be asking you to fix something or help us out, but we may not. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do, and that frustrates a lot of people, so we often stay silent to avoid making you upset or uncomfortable. 

Other disabled and/or chronically ill people, feel free to add on to this

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PLEASE DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE ME BEFORE YOU. It is incredibly ableist and honestly insulting to the disability community. You want to know why I’m so upset about this movie? When i was about 8 i was doing a back handspring out in my yard and considering i did acrobatics it wasn’t a big deal. However, this time was different, i made a positioning error and would up landing on my neck. When i tried to get up i couldn’t, my legs and arms wouldn’t move. I started screaming and crying and my friends ran to go get help. I remember everything about what happened: my parents on the phone with 911, being in the ambulance, at the hospital in a neck brace getting all sorts of scans and tests done. I remember laying in my hospital bed being quadriplegic and absolutely terrified. My parents thought i would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life and so did my doctors. It was a miracle when feeling came back into my arms and legs. For those of you who do not know the plot of the movie/book it’s about a man who comes from a wealthy family and is in a horrible accident leaving him quadriplegic. He wants to end his life but his family promises to give him 6 more months and if he’s not happy by then he can end his life. During these 6 months he meets a new caretaker and falls in love with her. The trailers of this movie make it seem as though once he meets her life is better and he is finally happy. However, at the end of the movie he winds up having an assisted suicide his family is happy they no longer need to care for him and he leaves this girl a bunch of money so she can travel and “live boldly” as the movie puts it and it is portrayed as benefiting everyone. All i can think of is some scared little girl in a hospital bed paralyzed watching this movie because she thinks he finds happiness when really he ends his life. I’ve seen posts in the support group i run from disabled people saying this movie plot makes them want to end their lives. Not only that, i received a message on my blog yesterday from a young girl telling me she read the plot of the movie and it made her want to end her life, i talked her out of it luckily but what this movie is doing to the disabled community is horrific. Not only does this movie romanticize suicide it is making others who are disabled want to end their lives as well. If you see this movie you are feeding into the ideology that people who are disabled should all end their lives and the world is better without us. Don’t go pay to see this movie, it’s bad enough this is already a book.

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✧･ﾟ:* June 17, 1983*:･ﾟ✧

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are u a chunky or smooth peanut butter person….. are u a milk or dark chocolate person….. are u a pancake or waffle person…

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I’m finally done with this, yay. I had a nicer background in SAI but apparently SAI’s luminosity setting doesn’t transfer to photoshop :/ Oh well. 

Anyway ya, I felt like doing something for one of my favorite episodes. It always gives me warm feelings, and these two are such soulmates it’s wonderful.

Now it’s on to working on stuff for shortaki week (meaning there’ll be more of these two from me just a heads up).

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Studio Park kara Konnichiwa [2013.12.27] - Nino + his home life gets me every time XD

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I think maybe my least favorite part of chronic illness is how much time you spend in limbo. Obviously the good days are good days, and the thing is that the worst days are when you can implement your emergency measures - take your pain pills, get in bed and call the whole day a wash. It’s a done deal. 

But most days are in between, spent sitting and waiting to see if you’re going to be able to do anything or if you’re going to have to give up. You can’t just give up every day, and you actually get really fucking tired of lying in bed doing nothing, but you can’t just will yourself to have a good enough day to be productive. You can try to advance on a task, see if you’re capable, only to find yourself on the brink of collapse, maybe even hurting your health because you so much as tried to do something. 

So then you go back to spending your 10,000th hour in bed or on the couch waiting for something to change. It’s really, really boring. 

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Sailor Mars by  Kiss a Frog Cosplay

Watch online or get the Blu-ray/DVD here 

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[Monthly The TV March 09’] Arashi’s laugh 

cr. denise_dinc

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Tfw you want to go to bed but you’re too tired to get up to take your meds and brush your teeth

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