
Apple Cider
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Everything posted by Apple Cider
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Femininity is a complicated topic for many reasons and that's because it's really hard to have a discussion about it when the subject itself is part of a culture that demonizes it so thoroughly. Part of working in feminism thought is the idea that rejecting femininity utterly doesn't do much but send the swing back into praising masculinity (in as much as people still believe there's binaries in gender, but that's a whole other topic), but rather we need to tackle what people SAY femininity is or should be and that women need to be confined to femininity as society dictates, versus what they make of it for themselves. Women can be feminine, if they would like, not because society says they have to be (and people in general too!) Anyone can and should embrace femininity if they want to for themselves, but also decide what that means for them, not just what society says it should be. For instance, I am not an overly feminine person, as a woman, but on the other hand, I love some aspects that are typically coded as feminine: I love the color pink, even if all my pink clothes are fairly neutral. I love fashion and art and whatnot, but I don't think that is the sole of who I am or how I feel I should behave. Many instances of what society believes as inherently feminine is restrictive (fragility) or demonized beyond belief (emotionality), without letting femininity mean so much more and be viewed as positive at the same time. However, there's still a lot of instances of /performing/ femininity in a societally accepted way that comes with the added context of meeting the status quo and that's where many feminists tend to talk about "recognizing what that does for you" at the same time. Trust me, it's pretty hard to navigate, especially as a woman.
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Idle Thumbs 189: Serious Ma'am
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Idle Thumbs Episodes & Streams
I think it was a good discussion but I wanted to throw my lots in because I definitely have similar feelings to Danielle. It's just a reason why I don't want to consume Serial in general. -
A Thread For Me To Rag On Merus' Imprecise Use Of Certain Words
Apple Cider replied to Ben X's topic in Idle Banter
It's clearly a reference to the ancient discovery of soap, where fat and ash would flow downwards to the river where women were washing clothes! -
Idle Thumbs 189: Serious Ma'am
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Idle Thumbs Episodes & Streams
As someone who does a weekly feminist gaming podcast, I completely understand how hard it is to have to drop some science about really complex topics on the fly. But I think you started scratching at some of the issues, which are pretty complex! I don't think anyone who does TAL or Serial are bad reporters or don't do a ton of work and both podcasts have or had a lot of value, but that doesn't detract from some of the really glaring issues, which do have quite bigger contexts, yeah. -
Idle Thumbs 188: A Refined Baby
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Idle Thumbs Episodes & Streams
Highlights was the HIGHLIGHT of doctor's office visits, along with those safety lollipops that had the stick bent into a loop so you could ostensibly yank it out of a choking toddler's throat. -
Idle Thumbs 189: Serious Ma'am
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Idle Thumbs Episodes & Streams
RE: The tangent with Danielle and Serial I agree with her. Overall, Serial's patina and structure (with the twee, off-the-cuff Mail Kimp gaffe, even) reminds me of the elements of This American Life that rubbed me the wrong way - it feels like "making good tape" (to use Glass' words) off other people's lives, a lot of times people of color, that white middle-class liberals can interact with as entertainment but not really grasp the fuller contexts of. There's a general issue (as Danielle said) with how our society and media works with peering into people of color's lives but without having to really examine why that is fascinating to us. http://www.theawl.com/2014/11/serial-and-white-reporter-privilege and http://www.vice.com/read/serial-and-the-white-liberal-medias-race-problem-twir-121 are both dovetailing breakdowns of why Serial might rub some people the wrong way. (In the interest of disclosure, I myself am also white, also listened to TAL for a long time but had no interest in Serial for these reasons and reading these pieces cemented that slightly off-kilter feeling I had) -
Twin Peaks Rewatch 9: May the Giant Be With You
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Twin Peaks Rewatch Episodes
The Log Lady is chewing gum because -
Oh, see I thought the "he" was in reference to Dan Savage! HA! But yeah, I'm a she. And right was meant as "shouldn't" vs. "lawful means" etc. I honestly know people can get value out of Savage but as far I am personally concerned, I find his platform intensely disrespectful of the very people he has to talk about sometimes and for that, I don't wish to have too much to do with him and those are just my personal feelings. I feel his way of doing things rubs me the wrong way and unfortunately in a lot of ways that are emblematic of larger issues. As far as Phillippa's piece on YouPorn, I found it intensely spot on. When I first heard about this earlier in the year, we talked about it on our podcast and came to the same conclusion: this does nothing for e-sports embracing a more inclusive position if they actually have a team sponsored by them. YouPorn might not make the porn themselves but they certainly profit off being a portal for it. They depend on people coming to their site and uploading content (much like YouTube does) because it drives ad sales. Many of those ads are also to other adult sites so they are the firehose, even if they aren't the water being pumped out. Seeing YouPorn's logo on someone's jersey playing DoTA, especially because DoTA doesn't have the specific content rules like Riot or Blizzard does means that this is something they are okay with (or haven't legislated against) and same goes for the team. It is a net negative to me. And a lot of it is not just the association with that content but the fact that it is money.
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Twin Peaks Rewatch 9: May the Giant Be With You
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Twin Peaks Rewatch Episodes
I always took the lack of comment on the weird stuff to be intention writing/direction (let's stick this stuff in here, not have anyone comment on it) that was stylistic, part "if you live in a town like this, it might just be part of your normal goings-on." In that way, it reminds me of Passions (soap opera), though Passions feels more like it was influenced by Twin Peaks directly, making that a fairly terrible comparison. -
My actions re: Dan Savage are just to let my fingers/support do the talking and I just never link to anything he does or speak about him in glowing terms. I don't get worked up over it, just more that I have no interest in supporting him vs. voices that could use the promotion and do a better job, even if it's not a sex/love advice column. Interesting juncture from this though is that advice columns had more cache when the internet was not a widely used thing but there's so many places that one can go for discreet, knowledgable information on any topic (in this vein, even) without needing one person as the sole source, especially if they aren't as progressive on topics outside of their purview.
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My issue with Dan Savage (while not hate, definitely moderate abhorrence) is that he often mixes just enough good, basic advice on how to treat as human beings in with some of the more odious opinions he's had over the years about anyone that's not a straight, white cis gay man that people want me to give him a pass but I'm not going to. He's doing some really basic stuff and I expect better/more from him or anyone. He's just the guy with the loudest mouthpiece. Saying that "it's just how he is!" is a really huge cop-out for me, everyone (and I mean everyone, including myself) can always strive to do better, especially if we have the ability to influence others with our words. Having an audience means you have the most responsibility to do due diligence by whomever might be listening to you or be on the receiving end of your platitudes. that being said, cis people don't get the right to be flippant or snarky about gender identity, even if that's your schtick. Savage's letter is confronting someone who's obviously a much older (queer?) person who doesn't "get" it and his responsible not compassionate nor helpful if he couches in cis gender "special snowflake" "oh those Tumblrinas!" stuff. Respecting people's gender identity means being not snarky about even the stuff you don't understand.
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Catcalling and street harassment is such a fundamentally pervasive occurrence, from my personal experience, especially as being a woman who is visibly fat as well. It was ten times worse when I lived in NYC, street harassment there is awful. I live in a smaller city now and now the most I get usually are car driveby stuff, which is no less degrading but the frequency means I don't worry about stepping outside. I've had even other women shout at me due to my weight, which is its own interesting depressive topic. What I tend to try and convey most to men when I talk about this stuff is less about catcalling, and more how men can't get over this idea that approaching women on the street at all is extremely nerve-wracking, if not scary as hell. I used to have really bad anxiety about any man coming near me on the street because I've been flashed, groped, attacked, and generally creeped on. It's hard to explain that because it's such a mental thing that develops over time.
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Hngggggh, I love games with a strong sense of color palette. Good job, TheHollowNight!
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That's really interesting! I've only done that method roughly, once, and it was a huge pain getting tracks to sync for some reason because I had to edit out pauses or whatever.
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I record with a 3rd party for Skype, should I just record directly into Audacity? FWIW, I know some people have everyone record their own audio and then editor syncs it up but I have no idea how that method works.
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That's been one of our continual struggles - we got better mics, we started recording with Skype, but unfortunately I have no idea how to polish the sound quality aside from a couple of things in Audacity and we have very little control over how our guests sound. I am learning as we go along but I just have no idea how to make that extra leap to sounding professional. But thank you for enjoying it.
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I do a variety of things online, and I definitely already posted in the podcast thread before I saw this one, eek. Podcasts I host or produce: http://justicepoints.com (gaming/feminism oriented) http://trashartandtelevision.com (TV media critique with lots of laughs) My writing: http://applecidermage.com (gaming, mostly) I will also come back and edit because I think my first published piece on gaming is going up on Paste Games today. ETA: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/12/the-fantasy-life-of-a-millennial.html
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Various Idle Thumbs Star in Latest FemFrequency Video (spoiler: it's great).
Apple Cider replied to Urthman's topic in Idle Banter
Okay, I am kinda glad that I wasn't the only person on the planet who enjoyed the video for the message AND all of the cutiepie gamer people. -
I feel like I escaped many of the weird bleed-through moments by playing MMOs versus single-players but I can definitely tell you I've had insomnia or sleep-deprivation related moments at night where I heard raid boss emotes on loop as audio hallucinations.
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Yeah, that's our feed, I should stick a link to that somewhere on our sidebar. (I am terrible at that end of things!)
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I'm new to the forums (I've been recently posting in the Twin Peaks Rewatch sub) so I apologize in advance if this seems self-promotional but I do a podcast about gaming and feminism if that's up anyone's alley. We do a lot of community interviews with developers, journalists, fan creators, etc. and a news segment on bits of writing or events in the community we find interesting to jaw on about. New episodes are up every Tuesday. http://justicepoints.com
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Twin Peaks Rewatch 8: The Last Evening
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Twin Peaks Rewatch Episodes
Jacoby's glasses are actually red/blue, he wears them to make the world look 3-D, which is kinda funny because a) 3D glasses specifically require special anaglyphic film or images but are actually used in medical profession for actual vision problems with corresponding diagrams. The things I learn via Google. -
Idle Thumbs 184: Super Pools 'n' Ghosts
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Idle Thumbs Episodes & Streams
The downside to this ability is that I am always constantly visualizing things, even if they are terrible or graphically awful. Like turns of phrases! -
Twin Peaks Rewatch 8: The Last Evening
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Twin Peaks Rewatch Episodes
RE: "He's an Easy Rider"/"Who carries drugs in a fuel tank" This has to be an intentional reference TO Easy Rider, where they carry drug money in a plastic tube in the fuel tank. Also, fun fact - Canada to California drug runs, PNW to California drug smuggling were often aided in 60s-70s were in the fuel tanks, crankcases of motorcycles, with truckers as well. Hence why there's such things as "trucker speed"/crank as meth terminology. It's not coke, for sure, but it's not a far out concept. Citation: My dad -
Twin Peaks Rewatch 9: May the Giant Be With You
Apple Cider replied to Jake's topic in Twin Peaks Rewatch Episodes
The goofiness of this episode is off-set, like so many more episodes in Season 2 by a really moving/poignant moment and for me that moment is Briggs and son in the diner. It's so bizarre that a show that had so many alienating surreal moments also produced something this emotionally relevant and then just veers right back into the absurdity and also incredibly dark horror elements.