You already know the name of a place where our greatest tragedy occurred; I hope you’ll take a moment to get to know the parts of The City Beautiful that we are proud of!
I know things have been heavy lately, and I can’t really apologize for that. As an Orlando resident with ties to the gay community, I can say we’re doing our best to get by. Now that the attention of the world has drifted off us a bit, we can get busy figuring out what comes next.
A local group was inspired by Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Keep Dancing’ monologue concerning Orlando, and he provides the voiceover for the beginning of this very delightful video. I don’t know these people, or anyone in the video, but I know ALLL of these places. Lake Eola’s fountain and stage! Beefy King! Redlight Redlight! Hawker’s! So many wonderful places no one talks about, outside of the theme parks!
You know the place where our greatest tragedy occurred; I hope you’ll take a peek at parts of The City Beautiful we’re proud of!
I am continuing coverage of Game of Thrones with my Game of Thoughts posts. We’re down to the wire! One episode left – THE BIG ONE. I’m going to a friend’s house to watch it, and they will undoubtedly laugh as I make my notes in my little nerd notebook.
I can’t wait for Sunday!
Have a wonderful rest of your day and please, Keep Dancing!
“But the internet is full of assholes,” people will say. “If she didn’t want negative attention she shouldn’t have put herself out there,” others say.
I need to tell you about my friend.
My friend is:
Employed full-time
A hockey blogger who has been blogging about hockey and covering games for almost two years, and only recently started receiving a tiny amount of money for all that work
Possessed of a Master’s degree
Half-Thai
An amazing parent who makes huge sacrifices every day
A woman
Here is a video that someone sent her.
This is a very evocative video. It starts out kind of funny, and the men and the journalists laugh a little bit. But things devolve, as they do. The men start sweating. They can’t say the words out loud, and they can’t make eye contact with the journalists, all of whom have already read the ugly words. Heck, they read them when they opened up their email a day or so after publishing a post. As bloggers, we all open our emails after a post wondering what kinds of comments we’ll get (if any), and who’ll stop by for a hello and offer some insight. It’s why we blog! Opening your inbox to find a big steaming mass of hate is not something I’ve ever experienced, but I’ve had a teaspoon’s worth now and then. I can only imagine what it’s like.
This video particularly struck my friend because she has received similar comments. These comments do not just call into question her journalistic ability or knowledge of the game; they call into question her intelligence, her dedication to the sport, her usefulness to the species in general, and go on to suggest that she should be raped and left for dead.
“But the internet is full of assholes,” people will say. “If she didn’t want negative attention she shouldn’t have put herself out there,” others say.
For Love Of the Game
She didn’t put herself out there. She writes about hockey because she loves it. She covers games because she is passionate. We went to see the hockey documentary Red Army last year, and afterward she lit up for an hour, describing play positions, strategies, and filling me in on some of the current controversies surrounding the game. She was radiant.
She has a press pass, and she talks and Tweets about hockey with thousands of other fans (she has a huge following on Twitter). And yet, she receives vitriol and scorn from a few unbalanced individuals who are unable to accept that she loves the game, that she has channeled that love into something productive that gets her to press conferences, into games, into locker rooms to meet players, and worst of all, that gets her attention. She has worked tirelessly for love of the game and no other reason, and in her wake she has left amazing and insightful articles, intelligent discourse, and insightful discussion. She didn’t set out to do this, but it happened and journalism is better for it.
My Hero!
In many ways, my friend is my hero. She has fought some personal battles unrelated to hockey in the past few years that leave me in awe of her strength, patience, and compassion. Escaping into hockey keeps her sane, she says.
It is ridiculous that people cannot write about what they love without those open forums being poisoned by shitbags. Sure, the Greek philosophers speaking in the agorae of old expected to be catcalled or made fun of. People speaking against the Emperor in China were banished to death. People speaking against Popes have been excommunicated, if not straight up burned for heresy. If they were speaking against the current political climateand threatening the status quo, they expected to be threatened, and maybe even killed. But are we saying that this is the same thing? That sports journalists should expect death threats from irate readers? HOW IS THAT THE SAME THING? People are passionate about sports – I’ve seen my Dad lose his shit over the Miami Dolphins for going on 30 years, I know fans are passionate, it’s the root of the word ‘fanatic.’
Perhaps I am just being naive. I realize the world can be quite ugly, but it’s the only one we’ve got so we’re stuck with each other.
Let’s Do Something About This
Anyway, some fuckstick made my friend feel bad about herself for being a female hockey journalist, so I am trying to cheer her up. He has apparently been following her for some time, and left some highly personal observations in the comments about her. He seems to live in Canada, which is fortunate for my friend as she doesn’t have to worry about some nutbag showing up on her doorstep with a weapon, and yet that is a thing that worries her. Gamergate showed exactly how shitty and dangerous things can get for female journalists, no matter what they’re writing about, and I worry about my friend’s safety sometimes. But I’m only one Jen – I can only do so much. This is where <3 YOU <3 come in!
PLEASE retweet the video to raise awareness about the anti-bullying initiative!
I love Doctor Orpheus from the Venture Bros., who acts as a parody of Doctor Strange, but I can’t wait to see the real thing in action.
Quick Check-In:
I’m seeing the Animated Shorts collection tonight at the Enzian. Shorts are ALWAYS a wonderful grab bag, ranging from ‘meh’ to ‘GOOD LORD’ so I am really looking forward to that.
Last night I watched a real treat- Hush. It’s by the same writer/director as Oculus, which I reviewed in a bit a few months ago and while that had some nice things going on for it, ultimately I didn’t care for it. Hush is a completely different animal – this might be my new favorite horror movie! I want to do a whole review on it but I’ll just let you know the premise: a deaf female horror writer has moved to an isolated cabin. Her idyllic routine is upset when a sadist appears and begins a sick game of cat-and-mouse. The tension is so thick and tight that it had me in knots! Well-acted, brilliant use of space, lighting, and pacing, and a lead actress who is intensely charismatic while never saying a word. It could have been incredibly stupid and exploitative but instead it’s just masterful. If you’re a fan of horror thrillers YOU WILL BE PLEASED.
The Doctor Strange trailer has dropped and it’s SO THRILLING!
I really, really can’t wait. I love the Marvel films in general but this one looks ESPECIALLY up my alley! I love occult stuff. I’m aware of the controversy of the film containing a lot of Asian mysticism while being mysteriously bereft of Asian people and that makes me sad, but I feel like that is a bigger conversation for another day*. Still, it looks AWESOME. I love Doctor Orpheus from the Venture Bros., who acts as a parody of Doctor Strange, but I can’t wait to see the real thing in action. Also Benedict Cumberbatch’s fruity magic bathrobe is magnificent and I can’t wait to see him waving his hands around shouting things. His costume is beautiful and I want one. Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, huge galactic imagery, cities turned upside down – they need to stop reading my diary.
GO MAGIC BATHROBES, GO!!!!
That’s all I’ve got for today. I’m taking notes on everything I see through the Florida Film Festival and will publish a big post about it next week.
Have a great day!
*If you are interested in this controversy, the Nerds of Color have posted about it. The comments going on below the post are VERY helpful for understanding.
In the meantime, please enjoy this throwback from my high school days – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ super-jaunty Knock on Wood.
Not a lot of film reviews done lately, but I’m working on one for Noah Baumbach’s character-driven Frances Ha. I was pleasantly surprised by that one !
In the meantime, please enjoy this throwback from my high school days – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ super-jaunty Knock on Wood.
Back in the day, a friend of mine knew Dicky Barrett. She’d go to all the shows in town and see him there, and they’d hang out. I never went to many ska shows but I do miss that sound. Now and then I need to throw some on and skank around my house when I’m doing some housecleaning.
FUN FACT – I can’t remember where I heard this but the song is supposed to be about taking responsibility for your actions by getting tested for AIDS. Feels like one of those VH-1 Pop-Up video facts to me, but maybe I also made it up.
I love it. Great production value, great performances, and just plain wonderful for fans of our favorite weirdo New Englander.
This H.P. Lovecraft Insurance commercial is all you need to get through the day.
I love it. Great production value, great performances, and just plain wonderful for fans of our favorite weirdo New Englander. I fully acknowledge his problematic legacy, but like my elderly relatives, I take the bad along the good.
They have more at the Youtube page, but I didn’t watch them yet so I can’t speak as to their quality.
I was supposed to go out of town to a family reunion this weekend – instead I am laid up with the flu. A fever of 102 is nothing to laugh at. Happily we caught it very early, only about 7 hours in, and I got some Tamiflu to head it off. My fever’s broken and now I just feel generally crappy, with aches, pains, a headache, and something I can only describe as puffy-hot-face. But we will power through!
