But...I LIKE Alex and Toggle Together!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I read the newspaper comics. All of the ones that appear in my newspaper, and many online. (When I have the time to do such a thing, that is.) So, naturally, I read "Doonesbury." Even when it's boring, even when it repeats itself, even when it focuses on characters I find repulsive or irritating. (I could go my whole life an be happy without ever having to read about Zipper, Zonker, or Duke ever, ever again.) But, I like Mike's young daughter Alex.
When she was younger, I found her irritating, but her time at MIT, and her recent obsession with politics has turned her into someone I would like to know better. And, I find her budding relationship with young war veteran Toggle to be the most adorable "courtship" between any couple in newspaper comics. Toggle lives in a trailer with his mother, suffers from aphasia, and seems to have joined the military straight out of high school. Alex is the daughter of a wealthy software company guy, (it's been so long, I've forgotten exactly what Mike did), has above-average intelligence, rarely stops talking, and goes to MIT. Alex has begun to wonder, how can she be so attracted to someone who's so wrong for her? As an example, she thinks of her mother and the man she ran away with.
Toggle is not like "Uncle Stupid-head," however, and Alex is not like her mother. Sure, both Alex and her mother can get a little, (OK, very), obsessive over things, and both tend to have delusions of grandeur sometimes. But, Alex is usually capable of bringing herself back to reality, while her mother tends to prefer to live in denial. Toggle is nothing like "Uncle Stupid-Head," either. That man is a slimeball, hits on every attractive woman he sees, selfish and content to live off of JJ. Toggle is sweet, apparently devoted to Alex, and has dreams and goals of his own. He also doesn't seem to be all that bothered by the fact that Alex is a great deal more educated than he is, and is likely to make significantly more money than he ever will. To him, all of that seems to be a non-issue. They like each other, they get along well, and they find commonality, (a love of music, for one), despite their differences. I like Alex and Toggle, Mr.Trudeau. I'd like to see them stay together.

Anybody Else Seen Royal Pains? Is it as Awesome as I Hope?

So, I only caught bits and pieces of a couple of episodes of Royal Pains, but, from what I've seen, it looks kind of awesome. I admit, thought that what most interests me is the relationship between the Concierge Doctor and his Physician's Assistant, a woman. From what I noticed, they seemed to have absolutely no sexual tension between them. This makes me happy, because I hate the idea that seems to exist in television, that every man and every woman of reasonable attractiveness must have sexual tension with each other. I did see that the Concierge Doctor appears to have a romance going on with a Hospital Doctor, (or Administrator, I couldn't tell), but I like that he can have a friendly, professional relationship with his Physician's Assistant. The Concierge Doctor, (I have yet to learn anyone's names), has an Irresponsible Brother, and although I saw an episode that put the Physician's Assistant and Irresponsible Brother together a lot, I didn't notice a lot of sexual tension between the two of them, either. (Please, tell me I'm ot supposed to.) A show where a beautiful young woman doesn't have to have a romance with one of the men? Say it is so!

Giiirrrlllyyy Blogging: Polyvore Challenge

From a cat of impossible color, a challenge from MLF and Fleur De Lice. It's based on this question: "How do you add your personal stamp to your outfit? If I asked you to slip on a pair of jeans, a simple top, a pair of flat shoes, and any accessories you liked, what would you come up with?"
So, here we go:


This is more of an everyday, running errands-type outfit. The headband's because my son's just reached a hair-pulling phase, and so I've been pulling it back, out of the reach of his little fingers. Plus, I have all kinds of hair clips and headbands with flowers on them. I love wearing flowers in my hair. The necklace is actually similar to one I own, and I own a Target brand version of those shoes.
I made another one, too:



For good or ill, that's pretty similar to the kind of outfit I'd wear when I was at school. I'm partial to shades of blue and green, so most of the clothes I wear fit in that color scheme. This is the sort of outfit one could wear on a fall day in Louisiana. The jacket and scarf would provide extra layers for a cool morning, but they also wouldn't be too stifling when it would warm up during the afternoon. I do not own a pair of purple shoes, but they are certainly on my shopping list, and that bag is the closest thing I could find to the big brown bag that comes with me nearly everywhere.
This actually wasn't really all that much of a challenge, as I tend to prefer to wear classic pieces in neutral colors, adding a few extra details in accessories and such things to make the outfits at least a little more interesting. I also tend to wear scarves and necklaces because I prefer to attract attention to my face.

So, I've Been Watching Brisco County, Jr....

The show's got more cheese in it than my father's lasagna, (which is a lot of cheese), but I do enjoy the show so much. A lot of it's got to do with the acting, as you can really tell that just about everybody involved is having a good time. Nobody takes the show too seriously, which is a good thing, because, honestly, it's a sci-fi western. With Bruce Campbell in the lead.
That being said, my mind has been rather occupied with an episode Mr G and I watched a couple of nights ago. I don't remember the name, (and I'm too lazy to look), but it's the one with the tank, an in this episode, Brisco, Professor Wickwire, and, eventually, Lord Bowler ended up in an all-woman town.
At first, I was cringing. Especially when the female sheriff stated that there was a gun ordinance in the town. And they showed the sign that said "No Man's Land." Man-hating, ineffectual, pacifist ladies! They clearly just need mens to help them come around, right? Thankfully, however, that wasn't really the ending that materialized. Even though the bad guys had guns, and the women didn't, and they did need the help of Brisco, Bowler, and the Professor, they weren't represented as just helpless womenfolk. Besides, the idea of a town where women can go to escape the prejudices and abuse they'd suffered was a pretty neat one. And Brisco quite clearly didn't get the girl in the end.
But, you know what my favorite thing about this episode was? The German blacksmithing women. They were very attractive, but they were also really, really muscular. They had the biggest biceps I'd ever seen on a woman that's supposed to be attractive on a TV show. They had shoulders that could actually support their really big breasts. It was a small thing in the episode, but I was quite impressed.

Giiiiiirrrrllllyyyyy Blogging: Seeking

Ever get it into your head that there is absolutely a certain kind of clothing item that you have to have, even if you haven't seen that particular thing anywhere? Well, I've got kind of an obsession with butterflies. (And dragonflies.) And I absolutely, desperately want a dress with butterflies on it. It's not a basic item, it's not crucial to my wardrobe, but I want one. Desperately However, most of the results that have turned up are way too ridiculously expensive for me. This has not deferred me from my search, however. Out there, some where, is a butterfly-printed dress with my name on it! And I will find it.

Movies Make Mana Angry

Anybody else remember the 1997 animated film Cats Don't Dance? Man, I loved that movie. Gene Kelly-choreographed dance numbers, Natalie Cole's singing voice, a surprisingly talented Scott Bakula singing...What was there not to love? My favorite part, though, was probably the credits, over which you saw various classic, (and some not-so-classic), movie posters with the characters we'd seen throughout the movie, in place of the actors we were all familiar with. At first, I found it amusing....A turtle playing Superman, two cats in Singin' in the Rain, but, I will admit, it was also the first time I'd ever bothered to ask myself, "what if?" What if the faces I had seen in films like Casablanca looked different? Would that really take me out of the movie? For Heaven's sake, I identified with friggin' anthropomorphic animals, why did people think a human being of a different race would bother me? Kids: They're not dumb. They don't have problems with characters of color. I would also like to point to the animated Jackie Chan Adventures, Juniper Lee, and friggin' Dora the Explorer. Yes, because only Hispanic/Asian kids were watching those shows. (Possibly more on Dora later, as well.)
With that in mind, we have this business, still. It just makes me angry. Granted, I look at Noah Ringer, and I think, "What a cute lil' baby face!" Frankly, the kid's precious. I hope nobody's blaming him for this. He's a kid who's good at martial arts, loves the show, and decided to try out for the movie. But, he's not Aaang. Aang is Asian, and the more times I watch the show, the more flabbergasted I am that people cannot seem to see this. And if Katara is a white girl, then I will eat my laptop. (Seeing as how I'm not wearing a hat.)
In other news, I am terribly ashamed of myself. Transformers 2 comes out next week, and I already know I'm going to have a hard time keeping myself from going to see it. I hated the first Transformers film. It was racist, sexist, and downright stupid. If they had devoted any more time to the main character's hormones, I would have lost it. Not only that, but the enormous Transformer fan in me likes to point out that there was just not enough of those giant robots for me. (Plus, they killed Jazz, and the reaction is basically, "Oh, well." Yes, that's important to me.) Still, there's that voice, (that huge Transformers fan inside me), that whispers, "Giiiiiaaaaant rooooboooots. Yooooouuu caaannoooooot reeesiiiiiiiiist....." Then, I watch the trailer again, and see Megan Fox lounging sexily across a motorcycle and remind myself: This movie's not for me. (Girls don't like giant robots, right?) Meh. Maybe it's time to go finally finish Transformers: Animated. Though the female Transformers I've seen so far have been very much background characters, Sari looks pretty impressive, at least up to the point I've seen. Oh, and look: An Indian, female main character, and she's one of the most-liked human characters in any incarnation of Transformers, from what I'm hearing. Clearly, that's just a fluke, right? After all, we all know that audiences just won't abide by a lead that isn't a white male. Grrrrr.

A Slightly More In-Depth Look at Terminator Salvation

....But, only slightly.
After all, I have to help you understand just why Blair is made of fail. At least, in my eyes. First of all, there's her very first "fight scene." That's in quotes because, seriously, it's really a scene of Blair getting beaten up. Then, Marcus steps in and saves the day, breaking nary a sweat. Of course this, (along with falling from impossible heights into a river and surviving), is possibly meant to show us that Marcus is no longer human, (at least, those of us that weren't spoiled by the trailer), but since perfectly human action heroes have done all that and more in other movies, I didn't find anything particularly shocking about all that. And then, the next thing Blair does is curl up on Marcus's chest, talking about what a good, strong man he is. Blegh. Then, she risks so much to help him escape, and why? What did she see him do, (other than save her, when she should have been able to save herself, if she was as awesome as she'd claimed to be), that made her think he was, indeed, more than a machine? Well, they cuddled. There was nothing in those scenes between them that made me think he could possibly be worth all that for her, but the audience was supposed to believe that she was willing to risk her life, her place in the Resistance, and all her friends for Marcus. Well, aren't women supposed to risk everything for their man?

The one thing I did like about Terminator Salvation? The way John seemed to cling to his mother's tapes. They were his guide, his comfort, his sense of direction. It gave Sarah Connor a presence in this film, despite the fact that she wasn't there. Since I didn't like the way Sarah seemed to be missing from Terminator 3, that made me feel better. A bit better.