This happened about 15 years ago. Relatively early in my career as a web developer/software engineer, so some details are not remembered precisely. Names changed etc. Tldr at the bottom.
Anyway, I thought I had landed a dream job at a small media company that had gone all-in on digital media and marketing a few years prior and had started to land some big clients (think NHS etcβ¦).
The team comprised of two owners, we will call them Jeff and Nige. Jeff was the lighthearted, approachable and more tech-oriented member of this double act. Nige was the straight man, less approachable, and less likely to join us in any social antics but ultimately a seemingly decent guy and the main driver of the business.
In addition, there was an office manager, James, who was also Nigeβs other half and Rachel, an office assistant and a good friend of Nige.
The rest of the workforce made up the media team which comprised of a senior and a junior designer, a senior and junior dev and me (another senior dev).
What made this a dream job for me at the time? Well, on top of the fact they were doing some great work with what was, at the time, cutting edge technology, it was an overall great place to be. Flexible working hours, lots of holidays and lots of social events.
To give you a better idea, most lunchtimes Jeff and the media team would all go out for lunch together, or play a FIFA tournament, go to the pub to mob on a new idea etc. Most importantly for this story, every Friday we would all finish an hour early, at 4 pm instead of 5 pm, and head to the pub and have a couple (or more) drinks together.
It was a very open place to work at the time and the two owners were clear on how they expected the business to expand and our future positions within such an expanded company. Basically, all the guff any potential employer peddles when you interview but we were actually doing it and living it.
They were receptive to new ideas or different ways of doing things, and regularly included us in sales meetings and we could see the direction the company was going in. Everybody who worked there was excited and I honestly thought Iβd be there for the rest of my career.
Things, however, change.
As time went on the company became more successful, and with more success came more recognition, more clients, more money, and greed.
I wonβt go into too much detail, but by the time of the main event in this story a couple of years after starting there, this once open and relaxed workpla
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OMG. Who came up with this piece of s*[email protected]? I'd dare say it's become my most hated expansion feature in the history of WoW. Some people hated island expeditions in BfA but at least you weren't forced to do those if you didn't want to but this expansion forces you in order to advance in your campaign. Everything about it is annoying: the stupid chains, it's ugly, the mobs often end ganging up on you and why TF can't we use mounts? Jesus. Like I said, it's an excellent representation of Hell, it really does feel like a punishment.
What is Valid LGBTQ+ Representation in Fantasy? Thoughts from a Gay Man
A few weeks ago a month ago /r/fantasy had a very popular and very contested post titled Homophobic Book Reviews β minor rant. It quickly became a locked thread but the discussion had evolved into a discussion on what is and isnβt good representation of LGBTQ+ people. In saying that, Lets remember Rule 1.
Letβs start with the TLDR: Most LGBT representation is GOOD representation. It might not be the representation that us, as individuals, want, but there is a good chance that it is the representation someone out there NEEDS. So, lets stop gatekeeping LGBT representation. That means all of us. The gays and the straights.
In general, I think we can generalize the negative /r/fantasy opinions into the following:
- The Dumbledore: I am okay with LGBT characters as long as their LGBT-ness services the plot in some way
- The cop out: I am okay with LGBT Characters but I donβt think authors should be explicit with any sexuality
- The Retcon: I am okay with LGBT characters but hate it when the author retcons a straight character to be LGBT.
- The Apathetic: I canβt understand how someone could feel those emotions for someone of the same sex.
- The Eww: Well as long as it isnβt explicit but I probably just wonβt read it..
When it comes to LGBT representation in fantasy, there are a lot of opinions on how it should be done, ranging from βit shouldnβtβ to βbring it on!β I want to give my thoughts on this and maybe introduce people to a few realities that they might not have considered, while hopefully not writing a giant essay on the topic (oops).
The Dumbledore: First, one thing people need to understand (and this includes all specialities) is that just because we prefer a particular type of representation, that doesnβt invalidate other types. What this means is that characters who donβt have LGBT plot relevant story arcs are still valid as those who have arcs of struggle. Not every gay character needs a story about struggle and abuse centered on their sexuality. The story of my 20s (my coming out story) does not have the same plot points as the story of my 30s (my PhD story). Both have their place and both are valid representations that are needed by other LGBT people in whatever stage of acceptance they are in. Hell, even βLove, Simon' gets flak f
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Man do I love the Babysitter. It's honestly one of my favorite stories in the franchise, so maybe I'm biased. Since it's a short, there's no "fat" to it, everything is pretty straight and to the point. There's a solid cast of characters, Samus Cal is a badass, the relationship between Spartans and the rest of the UNSC, specifically ODSTs is fleshed out more (plus a look at how normal marines view ODSTs), we get an appearance from Dutch, the art style draws a lot of inspiration from the first Halo Wars game, the artistic liberties aren't too glaring like other Halo Legends shorts, Cal has some pretty luscious locks and she's kinda got that Lady Dimitrescu energy going on if you're into that sorta thing. It's not exactly the most thought-provoking or deep entry in the series, but it's also not trying to be. There's a lot to like about the Babysitter, and the fight between Cal and the Brute Chieftain is just one of them.
First, it's one of the few animations that has really managed to capture just how fast a Spartan is as described in the novels. Not to rag on Halo 5 even more than people already do but take Chief and Locke's fight, choreography aside, they're really slow. Even Halo Wars, which aside from Red Team vs Atriox, I'd say has some pretty solid fight scenes, never really manages to suggest that Spartans are truly superhumanly fast.
In fact, I'm fairly certain the Babysitter is so far the only piece of visual media to depict Spartan Time or the phenomena where Spartans perceive time to be moving in slow motion due to their heightened reflexes. And the best part about it is how subtle it is.
The fight starts with a pretty clever way of showcasing this. The order of events is this: O'Brien is spotted by a grunt while trying to sneak up on him, so he readies his M7S and fires. Next, the Chieftain swings his gravity hammer to smash him, and then Cal stops it, grabbing the haft with
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Some stuff to start: I'm Deaf with bilateral cochlear implants. Proof. I speak and sign ASL. Matt James is my first season of The Bachelor and I was convinced to watch it because of Abigail Heringer. I'm making this post because I'm bothered by the ableist language people have used to describe Abigail's deafness, and hearies need to get educated on it since disability education is nonexistent.
- 'Hearing impaired'.
The word 'hearing impaired' is straight up ableist not welcomed by the Deaf community. This term was created by hearing people for the Deaf community decades ago because they didn't want to be blunt about calling Deaf people deaf. The terminology itself centres on what Deafies can't do. Using 'hearing impaired' puts the hearing above Deaf people. It establishes the standard as hearing.
To put it in perspective: it is akin to saying white is superior to Black, or the default; hearing is the default and superior to the Deaf. Deaf culture has a whole history with many different sign languages. Deaf culture is a culture. Do not use the word hearing impaired. Please call us Deaf or hard-of-hearing. Both words are widely accepted and welcome. Further reading here by the National Association of the Deaf.
- Deaf and deaf.
We use the capital D to refer to the community of people who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing. Deaf does not look or act one way. People who sign are Deaf. People with cochlear implants or hearing aids are Deaf. People born deaf or late-deafened are Deaf. They are all Deaf. The lowercase d refers to the actual symptom.
Examples:
- 'Bob is a new student! He is Deaf!'
- 'Do you know if he is deaf? I don't think he heard me.'
To add on, it is ultimately up to people whether or not they want to use the word Deaf to identify themselves. Some people with cochlear implants don't identify as Deaf because they consider themselves not 'Deaf enough'. This is because they were never taught to sign and had speech therapy growing up (which is a whole 'nother can of worms that I am not going to address in this post). Some late-deafened or deafened because of sickness can also choose not to identify as Deaf. It is up to those individuals what is/isn't comfortable for them.
- Social settings.
This is in response to s25e4. People have made the accusation that Abigail is a 'mean girl' beca
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Most TV shows always have the disabled person as some kind of helpless sweetheart who needs to be treated with kindness and charity. I love that in South Park the two disabled characters donβt fit into stereotypes for disabled people. In the episodes that have been centered around Jimmy or Timmy, they are shown to be as well rounded as anyone else, with ambition, industriousness, malevolence and kindness. They go on crazy adventures and get into all sorts of trouble. Their disability hardly figures into their character arc except for the odd joke, usually made by Cartmen.
So anyone who's seen Parks and Rec knows that the documentary crew themselves never appear on camera the way they do in the final season of The Office. You could say this is merely a narrative choice and that the documentary crew is still there whether on camera or not, but as we see at the end of Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones's final episode, the camera switches from documentary to a traditional far back street shot that shows no crew at all.
Thus, my theory is that the asides and confessionals only exist in the heads of the characters and are meant to inform the viewer of their thoughts, while the surrounding characters don't actually see this happening. One slight drawback are confessionals that involve multiple characters, of which I can only think of one time with Ben and Leslie, but that was just them providing background on events that had already taken place (i.e. the high five over the sex they had that morning) and no new information shared between the characters, which could also be easily construed as a representation of both of their thoughts even if they're not literally speaking them to each other in that moment.
Representations of Latin America in foreign media are often cringe-worthy because of the stereotypes that abound about the region. What are the most ridiculous examples you can think of?
