Monday various

  • The first four Harry Potter books condensed. Lovely. [via]
  • Geeks, Girls, and Media Misogyny: The Saga Continues:

    I can accept that questioning a actor or actress about their geek bona fides when part of their job involves selling their project to the public, including the geeky public, and especially when it’s a geeky project may seem like a good idea, except for one thing: it’s only women whose geek cred is called into question, time and again.

    If nothing else, arguing that sexy women can’t be geeks seems to be forgetting one simple thing: smart, geeky women are sexy.

  • Writers and Kitties. Does exactly what it says on the cat food tin. [via]
  • I think what I like most about this article from the New York Times about booksellers who are also authors is this revelation from author Jonathan Lethem:

    “I have the habit of accumulation,” he said. “When I first met my wife, my kitchen cabinets were full of books.

  • And finally, seriously Marie Claire? Seriously, “nutritionists”? Easily the most ridiculous is the woman who skips lunch and then eats an entire box of macaroons for dessert at night. There’s a lot of calorie counting going on in almost all of these, but very little healthy eating. [via]

3 thoughts on “Monday various”

  1. I find the geek girl thing kind of interesting, because I’ve just recently finished watching the first season of The Big Bang Theory on DVD and had an interestingly conflicted reaction to it. Because one the one hand, hey, geek humor! And it’s frequently hilarious! And, on the other, the whole premise seems to be based on the stereotype that all nerds are heterosexual guys and the only important characteristic in a woman is whether she’s hot enough for said guys to pant over. Way to make me feel like chopped liver, show. When it comes to media portrayals, at least, it seems like geeky women just can’t win.

    • There’s a lot of that in Kaley Cuoco’s character in the first season, a lot of the tongue-tied nerds and the pretty girl who’s never even heard of Star Wars, which is kind of unfortunate. I think the series gets better, as they become more characters than stereotypes, but I can’t defend TBBT as entirely reflective of reality. (Or even as an always perfect sitcom. It’s too often “The Sheldon Show” for my tastes, despite Jim Parsons being genuinely very good in the role.)

      • Yeah, pretty much everybody I’ve talked to says it keep s getting better, so I’ll definitely be watching season 2 in the nearish future. But, man, I’m not sure there’s ever been a show that’s simultaneously entertained and irritated me this much before. 🙂

        I don’t mind if it’s mostly “The Sheldon Show,” though, as so far he’s the best thing about it.

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