Culture

The milieu through which we swim

Whoydensday: when fans attack edition

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NOTE: Spoiler Free Zone for later episodes of the Doctor Who 2008 Season – Australia has only just seen the Sontaran Double Episodes 4.04 The Sontaran Stratagem and 4.05 The Poison Sky. Everything prior to that is fair game. Torchwood Season 2 is entirely off limits for spoilers here too, please (We can always have another fans attack edition later in the year) – we do have a thoroughly spoiled Season 4 Finale thread still open though – feel free.

So, it keeps on happening (the image below recurs in various adaptations all over the ihasatardis LJ community):

What’s been your most jarring WTF moments? Conversely, what’s only crept up on you later, upon reflection or reading someone else’s take? On the gripping hand, what fan-attacks have struck you as totally unwarranted?

LIMIT OF MAPS

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So. Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ll know that Google StreetView has now indexed Australia. At first I thought it was only the cities – I idly looked up my place (feeling vaguely uncomfortable), and some places I lived growing up, and had a peek at the Perth CBD.

Then I realised they’ve also photographed a fair whack of the countryside, too. And not just the easy parts. They didn’t stint on crossing the Nullarbor:

Got Breastmilk? Californian Milk Board Threatens Batik Artist Mum

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Remember when Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist was stomped on by Big Pork for selling a T-shirt saying “The other white milk”?

“Your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of the National Pork Board’s mark, in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption”,

the Pork Board whined, with a side serve of insinuation that The Lactivist was a sexual lactation fetish site. (Or were they really, truly freaked out that she is just fine with toddlers and preschoolers breastfeeding, not just infants – and thought that that any association with all that booby malarkey would reflect badly on an organisation that intensively tortures pigs before making them into bacon? We’ll never know.)

The gap between American justice and that of the rest of the world is enormous and growing

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Xeni Jardin notes that it’s official: more than 1% of the US population is now in jail or prison. The stats one finds can be a little confusing because of that particular US distinction (between jail (a remand facility for those awaiting trial or convicted of misdemeanours) and prison (convicted criminals only)), but most studies find between 750 to 800 persons imprisoned per 100,000 US populace. Other nations treat jail/gaol and prison as synonyms, so their incarceration rates may well include those held on remand or for misdemeanours, making the difference in figures between the US and other countries even more striking.

The Great Scrabble Firewall

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Facebookers have probably been following the saga of Scrabulous, the online game that looks and behaves rather like Scrabble. Scrabulous was well put together, and allowed me to play with my friends all over the globe, in group and one-on-one games.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Despite their IP claims being rather, erm, shaky, Mattel-Hasbro seems to have brought down Scrabulous; it’s now only available for people who don’t live in the USA or Canada.

“Not to worry!”, they bugled. “We’ll bring out our own authentic version for you!”

“There’s nothing so sad and ridiculous as a shiny-nosed girl trying to be a charmer”

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So says the advertisement below for skin creams. While the cosmetics industry is still full of nasty beauty myth tropes, at least it’s no longer quite as condescending as this.


Image Credit: Ponds-HowToBecomeSomeMansDreamGirl originally uploaded by Wishbook

This phrase just makes me want to hurl: “wistful dreams of being some big strong man’s little dream girl”. Infantilising much?