With the magic words “You Go Girl!” a 12-year old boy transforms himself into SheZow. He dons a skirt, a cape, pink gloves and white boots. She proceeds to kick ass.
The Australian-Canadian cartoon show was just picked up by The Hub and there’s been an uproar of criticism. Ben Shapiro leads in negativity, whining that the content is inappropriate for children and that The Hub’s chief executive Margaret Loesch “may or may not have been high (and leftist) when she greenlit the project.” Alternatively, SheWow is gaining a more level-headed, very enthusastic audience who find that SheZow has a positive message about challenging restrictive gender roles. Here’s a leading character that achieves strength in his girly-alter ego: it embraces the idea of finding empowerment and identity, and in doing so presents a very positive atmosphere for children. What’s not to love?
Series creator Obie Scott Wade has come forward to say that the show isn’t trying to make a political or social statement. He just wanted to make a cartoon he’d have liked as a kid. Whether or not they intended it, we think that the show has a pretty cool message.
Besides, cross-dressing isn’t really a new concept for cartoon characters. First came Quality Comics’ Madame Fatal (1940), whose alter-ego is an elderly woman - and let’s not forget about Bugs.
“I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, “She must have provoked him,” or, “Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.” They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.”
This awesome mechanical wooden cephalopod was created back in 2007 by phenomenal French street theatre company Royal de Luxe. Called “Le Calmar Geant a Retropropulsion” (“The Giant Squid with Reverse Thrust”), the gorgeous squid was just one of an assortment of incredible creatures created for a project entitled Les Machines de l’le de Nantes.
Words cannot express how much we’d like to ride this squid.
For Brazilians and Brazil-watchers alike, the protests this week [and last] have either inspired alarm or inspired hope. On one hand, there are the conspiracy theorists, who think the protests are engineered to impact the presidential elections and are organized by nefarious elements from the extreme left. On the other, some hope this is finally it: a real, nationwide movement to hold the government responsible for security, corruption, and public services. Could it be an end to the usual apathy and complacency, to the shrug and “vai-fazer-o-que” [what can you do] … attitude? Are people finally going to take action? Is this the start of something big?
Those in favor of the protests want them to mean something more. A photo has been circulating on Facebook of a “future” book called “The 20 Cent Revolution: The Protest that Changed Brazil.” And it’s arguably the continuing violence to repress the protests that’s serving as fuel for a movement. But they could peter out after new protests planned for [this] week, or it could become like Occupy Wall Street – where a movement gains a lot of momentum and media attention, but fizzles out and doesn’t actually accomplish much or end in many concrete results.
Photojournalist creatively covers the ongoing protests in Brazil
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Louie Gohmert has taken on a lot of brutal adversaries in his time on Capitol Hill. His bravery in the face of so-called “terror babies” and “radical Islamists who are trained to act Hispanic” have made him a pillar of the American Right. Now, he’s turning his energies to fight against a problem that he believes is “the greatest threat to the health and safety of America’s youth”. That problem, according to Gohmert, is the mosh pit.
In a press conference on Monday, Gohmert spoke in depth about “the recent phenomena referred to as ‘pitting’ by young people”. Gohmert claimed that thousands of young people are injured or killed everyday in this “circle of ungodliness”.
He went on to discuss stories he had heard of mosh pits breaking out not just at heavy metal concerts, but also in daycare centers and hospital emergency rooms. He told the story of an unnamed 87-year-old woman who was crushed to death when a mosh pit broke at a Perkins restaurant on Seniors Pay What They Weigh Night last month in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. “What happens to the innocent when they are caught in a mosh? Who speaks for them!” Gohmert thundered to reporters.
The internet is the LSD of the 21st century. With its creation, great truths beautifully colourful and dark revelations have slithered and soared out of the cracks and crevasses of the dealings and imaginations of man that no one has ever heard or seen. This small contribution to the virulent habits of information especially in its golden age may inspire those who are willing to research and experience the subjects of which are most intriguing or most disturbing to the viewer.
