Tuesday, June 09, 2009
I'm looking forward to the new run of Detective Comics, in which Batwoman takes over while Batman deals with a case of being dead (this being comics he'll get better in a few months time). I plan to actually buy the comics, as opposed to downloading them as I do with most of what else I read (although with Jeph Loeb, which I read just for his Ed Wood quality, I still feel that I should receive an apology afterwards for wasting my time, if not my cash). I'm a little concerned with this article, in which writer Greg Rucka claims that when the character was announced several years ago then pretty much didn't show up in comics that was all because of naughty newspapers misinterpreting press releases, leaving DC high and dry (not mentioning the cancelled Devin Grayson series). Not so much for that but for a couple of quotes that caught my eye.
Batwoman is the highest profile queer character in mainstream, genre fiction ever. As a lesbian, she’s possibly an easier sell to the still mainly straight, white, male comic readers. "If I have to PT Barnum you a bit to get you into the tent then it might be worth it. But then the flip side is if somebody is going to open up these pages hoping for some hot girl-on-girl action then they will be sorely disappointed."
which seems mostly positive, and
"Batman is a demon, he’s a gargoyle. And I wanted Kate to be more seductive and consequently I would think more likely to take people by surprise... Their reaction to Kate is, yes, surprise and alarm, fear. But the way I see it is she’s more like a succubus when she wants information. She will coax it out of you, tease it out of you...."
which seems less so. Those ole' feminine wiles again. I guess the proof will be in the pudding.
Batwoman is the highest profile queer character in mainstream, genre fiction ever. As a lesbian, she’s possibly an easier sell to the still mainly straight, white, male comic readers. "If I have to PT Barnum you a bit to get you into the tent then it might be worth it. But then the flip side is if somebody is going to open up these pages hoping for some hot girl-on-girl action then they will be sorely disappointed."
which seems mostly positive, and
"Batman is a demon, he’s a gargoyle. And I wanted Kate to be more seductive and consequently I would think more likely to take people by surprise... Their reaction to Kate is, yes, surprise and alarm, fear. But the way I see it is she’s more like a succubus when she wants information. She will coax it out of you, tease it out of you...."
which seems less so. Those ole' feminine wiles again. I guess the proof will be in the pudding.
Labels: Batman, Batwoman, comics, DC comics, lesbians, queer
Monday, January 19, 2009
Stan Lee 'to create world's first gay superhero'. Presumably all the other gay superheroes don't count.
Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports.
Hmmm, okay. Most of the rest of us would have got the idea of a gay superhero from the comics that have gay superheroes in. Or from, you know, being queer ourselves. (Waves to the Comic Book Queers)
If the order in which things happens doesn't matter any more then I announce now that, within the next few years, I intend to invent 'the wheel', a device that is circular like the sun and which I feel confident will become the backbone of the entirety of civilisation.
Lee developed the idea of a gay character from the award-winning novel Hero by Perry Moore, the Sun reports.
Hmmm, okay. Most of the rest of us would have got the idea of a gay superhero from the comics that have gay superheroes in. Or from, you know, being queer ourselves. (Waves to the Comic Book Queers)
If the order in which things happens doesn't matter any more then I announce now that, within the next few years, I intend to invent 'the wheel', a device that is circular like the sun and which I feel confident will become the backbone of the entirety of civilisation.
Labels: comics, gay, queer, Stan Lee
Sunday, September 21, 2008
It turns out that God hates the UK. Who knew? Yes, Fred Phelps's tech-savy grandson has helped him create a definitive list of why God hates the UK and, wouldn't you know it, it's all about the bumming. What seems odd in all this is that God has been half-hearted in expressing his dislike of the United Kingdom's supposed relaxed attitude toward the gays, or perhaps he's been so angry that his punishments have actually travelled back in time to affect the UK before homosexuality was decriminalised.
If you want to find out why God hates your country (hint: It may have something to do with man-on-man action) check out http://www.godhatestheworld.com/">God Hates The World, although you might have to wait until Fred works out how to spell most of the countries.
If you want to find out why God hates your country (hint: It may have something to do with man-on-man action) check out http://www.godhatestheworld.com/">God Hates The World, although you might have to wait until Fred works out how to spell most of the countries.
Labels: Fundamentalists- Christian, gay, homophobia, humour, lesbian, lesbians, queer
Monday, April 21, 2008
The National Archives Podcasts are somewhat pedestrian and recondite, but the episode on Joe Orton from about a month ago is worth a listen, an explicitly queer perspective on the handling of his papers and diaries after he was murdered, even if it does sometimes slide into an attack on his agent Peggy Ramsay and his first biographer John Lahr.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Kulchur
More to come, including part two of 'why comics are shit', but my family is coming up to London with the mistaken belief that I was aware they were going to do so, so I have to leave in half an hour to go meet them at one of the few stations which are open to both train and tube this weekend.
For now, just a quick note on Derek, the film by Isaac Julien about Derek Jarman. It's very good, I could have happily sat through something that was twice the length so it didn't feel quite so rushed. I could have done without the shots of Tilda Swinton walking through modern-day London talking about how boring it all is these days, as though you couldn't move in eighties London for laudanum and bumming. Tilda, you want to talk about boring films? You did Vanilla Sky and Constantine, so please be quiet.
You can see Derek and Blue at the Serpentine Gallery exhibition, though be prepared to go for a walk around the Park if you miss the times they are showing the film. Annoyingly they don't have this up on the website and while the dozen or so pieces of Jarman's art are good, I doubt they can hold your attention for the hour or more you may have to wait.
For now, just a quick note on Derek, the film by Isaac Julien about Derek Jarman. It's very good, I could have happily sat through something that was twice the length so it didn't feel quite so rushed. I could have done without the shots of Tilda Swinton walking through modern-day London talking about how boring it all is these days, as though you couldn't move in eighties London for laudanum and bumming. Tilda, you want to talk about boring films? You did Vanilla Sky and Constantine, so please be quiet.
You can see Derek and Blue at the Serpentine Gallery exhibition, though be prepared to go for a walk around the Park if you miss the times they are showing the film. Annoyingly they don't have this up on the website and while the dozen or so pieces of Jarman's art are good, I doubt they can hold your attention for the hour or more you may have to wait.
Labels: art, artists, gay, London, queer, Serpentine Gallery
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Stephen Green, head and, it would seem, sole member of charmless bigots Christian Voice, posted his review of his day picketing Brighton Pride last month. It's very amusing.
'Shame on you', chanted an overweight man, You bitch! clutching his 'boyfriend's' hand, seemingly unaware of the paradox of accusing others of shame while foaming out his own shame (Jude 1:13)
...What were the National Front doing turning up half-way down the parade? Homosexuals are not black or Asian as a rule, they are overwhelmingly white, and therefore totally scrumptious from a National Front point of view... Funny how the NF have just picked up on the idea of protesting at gay pride events, three years after we started in London 2005. Could it be that some homosexual in the NF has worked out that their presence could devalue ours? No, they aren't that bright, surely? But just maybe the spirit of homosexuality is still as inseparable from national socialism as it was when the Nazi Party began its obscene life in a Munich gay bar.
'Shame on you', chanted an overweight man, You bitch! clutching his 'boyfriend's' hand, seemingly unaware of the paradox of accusing others of shame while foaming out his own shame (Jude 1:13)
...What were the National Front doing turning up half-way down the parade? Homosexuals are not black or Asian as a rule, they are overwhelmingly white, and therefore totally scrumptious from a National Front point of view... Funny how the NF have just picked up on the idea of protesting at gay pride events, three years after we started in London 2005. Could it be that some homosexual in the NF has worked out that their presence could devalue ours? No, they aren't that bright, surely? But just maybe the spirit of homosexuality is still as inseparable from national socialism as it was when the Nazi Party began its obscene life in a Munich gay bar.
Labels: Brighton, Christian Voice, Fundamentalists- Christian, gay, lesbian, queer, Stephen Green
Monday, August 06, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
"It makes sense that if you have lawless gay people that they would do this sort of thing."
That's the special kind of sense that only lives in Bill O'Reilly's head. This clip has been making the rounds because of it being Fox News insanity at it's very finest.
Seriously, how the hell is The Half-Hour News Hour supposed to compete with this?
Dykes beat up young women to recruit and indoctrinate them into their gangs. Using pink pistols, supposedly.
As Pandagon points out, it's all about the hate crimes legislation.
(Sadly I can't find a picture that I had as a teenager of Kathleen Hanna (IIRC) with a big fuck-off gun to illustrate this with)
Seriously, how the hell is The Half-Hour News Hour supposed to compete with this?
Dykes beat up young women to recruit and indoctrinate them into their gangs. Using pink pistols, supposedly.
As Pandagon points out, it's all about the hate crimes legislation.
(Sadly I can't find a picture that I had as a teenager of Kathleen Hanna (IIRC) with a big fuck-off gun to illustrate this with)
Labels: Fox, gay, lesbian, news, queer, YouTube
Sunday, June 24, 2007
[via Pandagon]
Also, it has not escaped my attention that I've been tagged. Bit busy at the moment, I'll get back to you on this one.
Labels: gay, movies, queer, YouTube
Saturday, May 19, 2007
One of the few things you could say about Tony Blair's government is that they have had a generally more enlightened view about Lesbians and Gays (don't mention the Bis, whoops!) and have implemented several measures to, if not equalise them in society, close the gap between them and the straights. So it's a shame that, after signing a petition asking his Tonyness to Overturn the National Blood Service (NBS) ban stopping Gay and Bi (G&B) Men giving Blood to be directed to this response:
The Government has a duty to ensure that any rules applied to blood donation by the National Blood Service (NBS) achieve a balance between risk reduction and security of supply. The self exclusion criterion concerning gay men has been reached through a close analysis of the epidemiology of confirmed HIV and Hepatitis B positive tests among blood samples from people donating blood at United Kingdom Blood Service sessions.
The Government has been advised that every year from the analysis of nearly three million donations collected by the United Kingdom and Irish Blood Services, about 40 donations are confirmed to be positive for HIV. Of these, a third to a half are given by men who, following further enquiries by the NBS, reveal that they are gay men. Some are donating for the first time but some have given at least once in the previous two years and tested negative on the previous occasion. These figures indicate that some gay men are still giving blood in spite of the current rules.
Although safer sex campaigns have had an impact, it is still considered that the risk of gay men being infected with HIV remains sufficiently high to include the criterion that they should not donate blood. Unfortunately, this means there will be healthy gay men who would be suitable for giving blood but who are excluded by the rule.
However, it is not practical to expect donor session staff to be able to differentiate between gay men with lower or with higher risk lifestyles, so all gay men have to be excluded.
Forty donations out of three million test positive for HIV. Somewhere between thirteen to twenty donations out of three million come from men who identify as gay, and are HIV positive. This is apparently a valid reason for why all men who identify as liking Steve instead of/as well as Eve are barred from giving blood. It ignores the fact that, based on this tally, somewhere between twenty and twenty-seven donations come from people who insist they are straight, suggesting that there is a greater danger to the public from the blood of heterosexuals rather than gay men.
The Government has a duty to ensure that any rules applied to blood donation by the National Blood Service (NBS) achieve a balance between risk reduction and security of supply. The self exclusion criterion concerning gay men has been reached through a close analysis of the epidemiology of confirmed HIV and Hepatitis B positive tests among blood samples from people donating blood at United Kingdom Blood Service sessions.
The Government has been advised that every year from the analysis of nearly three million donations collected by the United Kingdom and Irish Blood Services, about 40 donations are confirmed to be positive for HIV. Of these, a third to a half are given by men who, following further enquiries by the NBS, reveal that they are gay men. Some are donating for the first time but some have given at least once in the previous two years and tested negative on the previous occasion. These figures indicate that some gay men are still giving blood in spite of the current rules.
Although safer sex campaigns have had an impact, it is still considered that the risk of gay men being infected with HIV remains sufficiently high to include the criterion that they should not donate blood. Unfortunately, this means there will be healthy gay men who would be suitable for giving blood but who are excluded by the rule.
However, it is not practical to expect donor session staff to be able to differentiate between gay men with lower or with higher risk lifestyles, so all gay men have to be excluded.
Forty donations out of three million test positive for HIV. Somewhere between thirteen to twenty donations out of three million come from men who identify as gay, and are HIV positive. This is apparently a valid reason for why all men who identify as liking Steve instead of/as well as Eve are barred from giving blood. It ignores the fact that, based on this tally, somewhere between twenty and twenty-seven donations come from people who insist they are straight, suggesting that there is a greater danger to the public from the blood of heterosexuals rather than gay men.
Labels: AIDS, bisexual, gay, Government, homophobia, National Blood Service, queer, Tony Blair
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Queers, Know Your Place!
Labels: gay, homophobia, humour, queer, YouTube
Monday, April 23, 2007
This makes me happy. Transgender student runs for Prom King. [via Feministing]
Labels: queer, sex/gender, transgenderism, United States
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
A gay man goes to one of those 'ex-gay conferences' to see what goes on. It's sad that the parents of gay children get told that it's their fault and chilling to wonder what effect this has on minds looking for an explanation for something they don't understand. [via Pandagon]
Labels: Christianity, gay, homophobia, lesbian, queer, United States
Thursday, March 08, 2007
I hate you so much right now.
So I read this story about a woman who went into a 'Jamba Juice' (which I presume is some American purveyor of liquid refreshment that hasn't yet made it over the ocean, unlike Starbucks) and got a receipt which describes her as a dyke. This made me angry. Then I read the comments, which included pearls of wisdom that the clerk wasn't at fault for being offensive (and hey, how is 'dyke' offensive when it's something the gay community uses itself?!) but the woman for being offended, and hey, it's not like she was called something 'really' offensive like 'ni@@er'. That made me angrier. Then I went over to Feministing and read this. Angry is no longer the emotion, I think I've invented a whole new feeling and am naming it 'Clamboxsis', and am clamboxsing like crazy. This, combined with the news that any vote for the Conservatives in the Newark and Sherwood area is a vote for racism, and I'm about ready to start hoping that Iran does have nuclear weapons and is about to destroy us all because at the moment it's about all we deserve.
Labels: Conservatives, feminism, lesbian, news, queer, racism
Saturday, February 17, 2007
I've been listening to Radio 4's Archive Hour on gay and lesbian radio. No surprises that the 'B' word isn't ever mentioned. But in it's coverage of BBC queer programming amidst the work by other radio stations it does bring back memories, most strongly of 'Out This Week', a sometimes rather po-faced half-hour news and current-affairs programme on Radio 5 that I came across while coming out in the mid-nineties. It apparently ran for five years and I probably listened to it for about the last three. By the time they had finished they'd already been transferred to a late slot on Sunday evenings and the BBC announced it was cancelling the show because 'gay issues were now mainstream' so we didn't need our little show any more. And ten years on you realise what bollocks that was. True, back then I couldn't believe they bring back Doctor Who let alone have him snog a dashing fifty-first century guy, that openly queer people wouldn't get typecast as 'the gay' on TV and in films. But it's still a hetero, hetero, hetero world out there and all the gay marriages in Ambridge are going to change that. The fact that an hour long programme can cover the last ten years of queer radio in the last five minutes of the show would suggest a marginalisation of the LGB voice on radio, not that it's conquered the mainstream. So, when do we get rid of Women's Hour , on the grounds that surely women's issues are mainstream? When do we get rid of all the Radio 4 shows about books and reading as that has been proved to be a fairly mainstream activity? When do we get rid of Quote, Unquote , because it's shit?
Labels: BBC, bisexual, documentaries, gay, lesbian, media, news, queer, radio, Radio 4, Radio 5
