Arrow: Let the MEN Handle This

*This post contains spoilers for the Season 1 Finale of Arrow, just in case I'm not the last one to have finally gotten around to watching it.

     I literally just finished watching season 1 of Arrow after marathoning it all day, so I may not be terribly coherent in this irritated review of the finale, but hear me out, okay? I really like Arrow. I mean, what's not to like? It's Green Arrow, aka Oliver Queen, who happens to be one of the many DC Comics heroes that I have been in love with since early adolescence. It's no secret that I'm a DC Comics fangirl, so it shouldn't be any surprise that I'm really enjoying this show.

     However, I have a pretty big problem with the way the women are treated in the season finale. Essentially, how Laurel, Thea, and most glaringly Felicity are told, "Sure, you could help, but you're girls. Go hide and be safe while the boys handle this."

     I mean, sure it's great that these men are so set on protecting their friends. I would be fine with it if this applied to their male friends too. I mean, seriously! In Felicity's case, she literally volunteers to diffuse the bomb that only she knows how to diffuse and Oliver vetoes it immediately. He had no trouble when Diggle was going to diffuse it. In fact, instead of letting the girl do it, he calls in Officer Lance to do it instead while she talks him through it.

     Thea risks life and limb to go to the Glades and save Roy, literally making her appearance there by hitting a guy upside the head with a glass bottle who was pointing a gun at Roy. Then, when some others need help, Roy tells her he can't let her stay there and help him help them. He tells her to run and she does, making her entire trip worthless and leaving Roy to help the people dying in the bus.

     Laurel's storyline in the finale is the least troublesome, though I honestly still can't figure out why she was in the Glades anyway after literally everyone told her to stay out. Her father begs her to get out because he thinks he'll be going under with the disaster, so I can't find too much fault with her ordeal.

     It just infuriated me watching these extremely capable women treated as something fragile and precious that couldn't handle saving the city like the menfolk. The men, of course, can risk their lives without a question. Oliver doesn't think twice about risking his own life, agrees to let Diggle come with him only after remembering Officer Lance could help, and conscripts Officer Lance knowing full well that he could easily die going in for Felicity.

     So as much as I wanted to, I really couldn't enjoy the finale of Season 1. I expected better of the creators, especially ones that created such dynamic women that I was really enjoying up to that point. Here's to hoping Season 2 rights those wrongs and lets these women reach their real potential.

Why I'm Not in the Fashion Industry

     When I moved to Seattle a little over six months ago, I applied just about everywhere in hopes of landing a job, even jobs I knew would be fools to hire me. One such company was Urban Outfitters (yes, I know now that they are quite literally the devil, but I had forgotten in my panic over being unemployed). They somehow made the mistake of brining me in for an interview. They told me to wear something I would wear to work and I wore jeans (I KNOW. I hired people at my last job and I know wearing jeans was the stupidest idea ever) and a cute black top. When I walk in, the three other girls being interviewed looked like they had just stepped out of a magazine. I knew then that I didn't have the job.
     It got worse when the interview started. One of the girls had studied fashion design in Paris. She was interviewing because she wanted to work her way into fashion design from the bottom. Then the interviewer asked us who our style icon was. Everyone went into such depth and immediately had someone that came to mind. The cute girl in the polka dot dress said Zooey Deschanel. I have no idea who the other people were. I bullshitted my way through by claiming I got style tips from friends, which the amateur fashion designer used to save my ass by marveling over how helpful "street fashion" is. Obviously, I didn't get the job.
     Anyway, I told that story because I was thinking today about my strange fashion choices and how much I honestly amuse myself with how I dress. Because, generally speaking, I don't give a flying fuck what I wear. So I tweeted about it:

Just in case anyone's wondering why I'm not in the fashion industry, my favorite "fall fashion" is wearing sweatshirts as shirts. #prostatus
— Kirsten Erin (@KirssyRen) September 29, 2014

It got me thinking about other silly reasons I'm not in fashion design and I decided to make a list of a few of them here. Without further ado, here are the top five reasons I'm not in fashion design:

1. Sweatshirt Shirts
     Obviously, I already talked about this, but it has to make the list nonetheless. I love wearing sweatshirts as shirts. They're so damn comfy and warm! I'm currently wearing my "Books Turn Muggles Into Wizards" Harry Potter Alliance sweatshirt as a shirt (which are sold by DFTBA Records). If I owned more sweatshirts, this would be a main staple of my wardrobe. Unfortunately, I only have about four, so I can't. Maybe I should add more sweatshirts to my Christmas Wish List . . .

2. Shoes
     I horrify my best friend on a daily basis (who is a manager at an Old Navy in Texas) on a daily basis by my sheer disregard for footwear. I've never been much of a shoe person, even when I tried. At this point, I have five pairs of shoes: 1 pair of DC Comics Flash Converse high tops, 1 pair of DC Comics Batman & Robin Converse high tops, 1 pair of light brown boots from Target that have crochet flowers on the side, 1 pair of sandals (also from Target), and a pair of grey and pink tennis shoes I bought at Ross.  I find shoes irritating and generally ill-fitting. When giving the option, I will generally always choose the sandals, because they're the fastest to put on. This includes rainy days like today, in which I'm wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and sandals . . . like a crazy person.

3. Nerd Merch
     I am a firm believer in the fact that if you have to purchase something, you should always try to get it in the nerdiest version possible. I like repping the things I'm into. I'm a pretty nerdy person, which means I will try to get nearly everything to represent one of the various fandoms I'm a part of. Obviously, this easily translates into what I'm wearing. Thus, two out of five of my shoes are DC Comics-related. Two of my four sweatshirts are the Harry Potter one I'm wearing and a Flash one. My two phone cases are a Batman & Robin one and a Wonder Woman one. Even my tattoos are nerdy: one is a paraphrase of a Dumbledore quote and the other is Tolkien's original illustration of the Doors of Durin from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

4. Priorities
     Honestly a huge part of why I'm not a part of the fashion industry is the fact that I have more pressing interests, particularly in where I choose to invest my money. Ask anyone who knows me where I spend most of my money and the first thing everyone will say is BOOKS. It's my passion and it means the world to me. Every time I'm forced to buy clothing, my immediate thought is, "I could buy, like, five books with this same amount of money."

5. I Just Don't Care
     The final reason I'm not in the fashion industry, is that I just don't care. It's not my cup of tea. I tend to have a pretty big problem with anyone or anything that presumes to dictate what I should or shouldn't look like or wear or be doing. Maybe that's just me being rebellious, but I couldn't care less if you like my outfit. If I like it, that's all that matters. Like I always tell anyone who will listen, confidence is 90% of looking good in pretty much anything. That's why hipsters can wear such weird clothes and still look so goddamn attractive.

     So there you have it: the top five reasons I am not in the fashion industry. The point of this post, besides laughing at myself, is essentially to say this:

     Wear what you like. Do what you like. Be who you like. Don't let others dictate the way you live your life, because life is too short to live like that. Who cares if that bitch in your Math class or at work thinks your outfit looks odd? If you like it, keep wearing it.
     And if you see me sitting at your local Starbucks with my brown and purple hair in braided pigtails, wearing a "Books Turn Muggles Into Wizards" sweatshirt as a shirt, over jeans and sandals, even though it's in the fifties outside and has been raining since dawn; feel free to judge my outfit. Because who I am and what I do doesn't have anything to do with you. I feel good like this. It makes me happy. And that's what matters in the end.

What is a Nerd?

Celebrate your nerdiness!

I'm currently reading American Nerd: The Story of My People and finding it insanely interesting. It  is, as expected, a very nerdy book that explains the history and dynamics behind what is commonly considered a nerd.

In the beginning of the book, Benjamin Nugent, the author of the book, gives his opinion of what exactly a nerd is. I agreed with him on some points and disagreed on others.

I, having been classified as a nerd by myself and many others, thought it would be an interesting exercise to write a post on what my definition of a nerd would be.

So here we go:

1) A nerd is almost always an enthusiastic learner. We enjoy learning new things and knowing that we're storing away knowledge. This doesn't, however, mean we're great at everything or enjoy learning about everything. We all have specific interests that we love amassing information on. For example, my brother is more of a tech nerd, so he's more interested in learning about javascript, html, and css. While I've dabbled in html, tech is not my expertise. I'm an avid reader and comic bird nerd that knows more about the technicalities behind tattooing, sociology, and DC Comics trivia than your average girl.

2) Nerds generally enjoy a good cosplay. I honestly haven't ever met a nerd who doesn't enjoy dressing up as their favorite character from a book, movie, or graphic novel. I've met a few who are more shy about it, but never one that thought the idea was stupid.

3) Nerds are passionate about at least one thing that isn't a social norm. I've noticed this just recently: there are some things it's socially acceptable to be passionate about (ie. sports, your occupation/future occupation, mainstream television shows, or even academics to an extent) and other things that aren't okay because it's not what everyone else is passionate about (ie. superheroes, sci-fi, too much reading, or video games). 

4) Nerds rarely enjoy massive amounts of physical activity. This one is more relative because I've seen a few exceptions to this, one being my younger brother. Generally, however, we tend to participate in activities that require little to no physical exertion. Common exceptions to this, however, are any activities that have an obvious nerd factor or make us feel more like the fictional characters we admire. Sword play/Fencing, other fighting techniques (ie. Tae Kwon Do or kick boxing), and fictional games (ie. Quidditch or water-bending wars) are the major categories of these exceptions. Generally these at least appeal to the majority of nerds, whether they pursue them or not.

5) Nerds have a large variety of different personalities. Unlike the generalized model one is often acquainted with, we come in many shapes and sizes. We can be arrogant or humble, introverted or extroverted, confrontational or non-confrontational. We aren't all cookie-cutter copies and we have a plethora of interests that span a wide variety of topics. In fact, I'm quite certain I've never met a nerd who didn't want to be a Renaissance man/woman (aka. someone who would like to be skilled in many differing areas, see Leonardo DaVinci). 

So that's a rough list of what a nerd looks like to me. You may agree or you may disagree. If you have something to add/comment on, feel free to leave it in the comments!

deviantART Favorites

I feel like a heathen.
Yes, I'm fully aware that I haven't updated in about two months. I'm sorry... I just had nothing to write about. Hopefully I'll be able to amend that soon. I have plenty of ideas running through my head right now. Yay!

I love deviantART.
It's such a creative outlet for artists who just want to put their work out there and bless us with the fruits of their labors. You can even buy their work there! Whoever had the idea must be banking right now.
I was first introduced to deviantART through FanFiction. I'm a writer and reader of quite a few categories on FanFiction.net and many authors/readers use deviantART to post visual representation of characters, scenes, and ideas from what they read/write.
I was re-introduced, however, by Girls Gone Geek, a fantastic blog by two women who are deeply in love with comic books, like myself. They have made some great finds that have gotten me back into perusing the deviantART world again!
Therefore, I would like to show you a few of my favorite art pieces found on that very site, in hopes of giving y'all the opportunity to share in the sheer giftedness of these artists.

6. Bat Kids by MeesterFinchy

Featuring Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Robin (Timothy Drake-Wayne), and Red Hood (Jason Todd). I love how deeply this symbolizes their relationship as brothers/friends/enemies. Poor Dick is always having to run around and keep his younger brothers in line. Jason's always causing mayhem- half the time causing Tim bodily harm. And poor Tim, who seems to always be hurting emotionally and, most of the time, physically as well.


5. Sapphira by RenaHikari

Sapphira Adi is a character from the Raising Dragons series by Bryan Davis. This picture represents exactly how I imagine her, which is awesome, but beyond that- look at that pencil work! The sketchwork is simply breathtaking.


4.Catty Titans- Dick's Underoos by JBadgr

Years ago, when Robin was first introduced, this is what his costume looked like- "scaly underoos" and all. In fact, it took three Robins to change it. Tim was the smart one who finally said, "Hey, why don't I add some leggings to the this insanely awkward getup."
So it's not beyond belief that the Titans would have a few things to say about his "scaly underoos". I mean, put those glowstick thighs away, please!
Beyond the hilarity of this piece, I have to admire the way JBadgr draws Roy and Wally's faces. They're fantastically well done!

3.Jingle Bells etc. by Tragic Ballerina

Disclaimer: There is a thinly-veiled curse word in the second panel.

Tragic Ballerina has quite a knack for "crack" comics (aka. crazy, weird, the-artist-might-have-been-on-crack comics; see "crack fiction" for more information). The hilarious take on the ever-popular Batman-ized Christmas carol will have you cracking up!
The artwork is great and very cartoonish, a perfect fit for the nearly cartoonish humor.


2. Cold Combat by Jackademus

Batman (Bruce Wayne), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), and Robin (Timothy Drake-Wayne) battle Dr. Freeze in this chilling* piece. This piece looks like it came straight out of the pages of a Batman comic book. Each character is done near perfectly. Amazing work!

*C'mon, you knew I wouldn't be able to resist the pun!

1. Kid Flash by m-lin

Go ahead. Make it your wallpaper and send it to all your friends.
I already did.
This is my absolute favorite so far and I doubt that'll change anytime soon. Not only does this breathtaking portrait feature my all-time favorite comic book character- Flash (Wally West)- but the shading is to die for. And don't get me started on how gorgeous those brush strokes are!
Kid Flash wins as my number one deviantART piece!!!

There were plenty of other pieces of art that nearly made this list that I found, but these are my final (and, I think, well made) decision. So now that I've piqued your interest, why don't you do some browsing and find yourself some favorites of your own!

My Thoughts on Fan-Based Movies

There are thousands of movies out there and even more coming to theaters every week. Nearly all of us watch them. Nearly everyone has a favorite. I, personally, have watched about 6 movies in the past two days, since I've been confined to my dorm room attempting to stay warm. (In case you haven't heard, Dallas has been ravaged by ice in the past few days.)
I digress.
Many movies, both recent and old, have been based off of sturdy fan-bases. From the popular Batman Begins to the disappointing failure of The Last Airbender, from the fan-freakin-tastic The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian to the disappointing Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we've all seen them.
There's a danger in adapting our favorite comics, books, and cartoon shows into movies, though. And it seems that the 'misses' far outweigh the 'hits'.
Why am I bringing this up? Well, with major comic book names like Green Lantern and Superman on the horizon, trying to live up to hits like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, while battling the shadows of Eragon and The Last Airbender (and for Superman in particular, fighting tooth and nail to get past Superman Returns)- I am legitimately concerned.
This is the reason I've never been one who begs for big screen representations of my favorite fandoms. I know Hollywood and I know that far more often than not, they make me wish I wasn't a fan in the first place. Sure, I'd love to see my favorite comic book character, The Flash, in his own feature film IF THEY DID IT RIGHT. However, I'm far too scared that they'll botch him up so badly that no one will have respect for him any longer.
I'll not give the lecture on accurate representation of the actual characters, no matter how much I want to strangle the creators of Green Lantern already. (The ring chose Hal Jordan because he's virtually fearless, and yet they're already saying in the trailer that he's never been fearless and now the responsibility of being a Green Lantern scares him. Are you kidding me?!)
My point is, by looking at the history of movies based on previously established fanbases, don't expect too much.You'll probably be disappointed. I've learned from one of my best friends to go in with low expectations. If it's bad, you won't be as disappointed; if it rocks, you have something to be excited about.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news. And you'll definitely find me standing eagerly in line outside of the midnight showing of Green Lantern, the Superman reboot, the Spiderman reboot, and many others (even Marvel movies, of whose comics I am not a fan, but I have trouble resisting anything superhero-esque when it comes to entertainment). I'm just prepared, after seeing all that I have, for it to be ill-represented.
So, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, even if the ridiculously hot Ryan Reynolds doesn't do you justice, I still know how awesome you are!!