“Two Ladybugs? I’m In Heaven!” -Cat Noir

Favorite Sonic 30th Anniversary Moments 💙🦔💨

Put up a picture of an Aston Martin, suddenly remembered the TFP Tunnel Vision episode and felt ill all over again. When will something good happen to KO?!?!?!?!?!?!

Just found this browsing. Nearly screamed my head off. Good thing the action figure is on its way right now or else I would be going through cardiac arrest from lack of sexy Knockout-ness!

To the late diagnosed ASD community:

How many of you were misdiagnosed the first time?

How many of you felt that your assessor wasn’t taking you seriously?

What sort of tests did they do? What sort of questions did they ask? And did they make sense in relating to ASD, especially in adult women?

What did you do after the assessment when you were told everything seems normal? And that you were just experiencing mild forms of anxiety and showed slight traces of OCD?

What do I do when I've done so much research, heard so many stories from people in the ASD community and related to them so well, used their knowledge and experience to help me get through my daily life a litter easier, only to be told by a professional that I'm not Actually Autistic?

Scientists like to say the body communicates in ways we’re only beginning to understand. And to that I say (insert explicative of your choice). Maybe that’s true for men, but it’s not true for women-or at least this woman.

Once a month my reproductive organs get mad at me for not being used to their fullest potential. They squeeze my insides until I feel like I’ve been punched by a buffalo, and then send a river of strawberry jam out of a very awkward place to have a stain.

And they do that because they’re not communicating with my brain and whatever organ holds the soul-probably one of those weird ones like the pancreas that we don’t really know what it does.

And if the reproductive organs would just talk to the brain and spleen, then they would know that we’re not anywhere close to having a baby. So stop wasting valuable blood that the brain could be using to write the next great literary hit! We could have had a movie and then a Netflix series remake by now if you had stopped forcing us to lose on average 84 days of the year and several hundred dollars worth of pads and pills and chocolate!

And with all that film money we could have been financially stable enough and relaxed enough to make several babies. But no, reproductive organs, you have to be focused on the short term. You think we’re going to somehow get pregnant at any moment and you need to be prepared. But how is that going to happen when you also give us PMS in addition to the week long shark fest?

Basically, reproductive organs, the only one you should be blaming for your abilities being wasted is you. Don’t take it out on me.

What part of...

... “I don’t want kids,” does no one understand?

Seriously, I am getting so sick of having to reiterate myself to people when I tell them I don’t want kids and they insist I’ll change my mind. 

I especially find it strange that they never ask about whether I want to get married (and they most certainly never think of the implications if I were to marry a woman - which for the record, I am straight, but I’m assuming that they’re assuming that even if I was gay I would find a way to have kids anyway).

It just makes me wonder if men ever have to deal with this or if it’s purely sexual stereotyping on women, even though we are in the 21st century.

So let me make it clear: just because I am a woman and I do want to get married someday does not mean I want to have kids.

Nor, in this advanced and liberated and non-apocalyptic (meaning there’s not a shortage of human beings populating the Earth) should it still be assumed/encouraged/pressured upon by women to have kids at all! In an age of casual sex, pro-choice, and lack of a zombie breakout, why is it that people assume that all women will want to have kids? (apparently regardless of whether or not they state they want to get married or what their sexual orientation is, as I mentioned earlier).

Personally, I don’t want kids. And to be clear, it’s not because I hate them. 

I actually do like kids and in my chosen field of work, I interact with a lot of them on a daily basis. But just because I like kids and I’m good with them shouldn’t mean that I automatically want any of my own.

For me, having kids would mean giving up all of my dreams. I have plans and goals and aspirations: for my art, my writing, and my career. 

I know myself well enough to understand that I put 200% of my energy into the things that matter to me. Which means for me, if I were to have kids, I would be devoting all of my time to them, leaving no room for my art, my writing, or my career.

And I don’t want that.

Which might sound selfish, but am I really being selfish to hypothetical kids that don’t even exist?

Yes, I want to create art and literature and environments where children can learn, grow, and be inspired by, but that shouldn’t mean that I need to have any of my own.

Somehow, it seems that declaring you don’t want kids is something that must be rectified by those around you (and yet, declaring you never want to get married isn’t as looked down upon).

Now, to be fair, most of the interactions I’ve had that inspired this was with generations older than me and primarily those people were from... certain areas of the country. But I’ve still had people from all over tell me I’ll change my mind and that just irks me to no end.

In conclusion...

I DON’T WANT KIDS AND IT’S WRONG OF PEOPLE TO TRY AND PRESSURE ME INTO CHANGING MY MIND!

So am I the only one who’s had this problem or are there other people out there that are just as fed up as I am?

Ah, Steve. How are you doing without your favorite second in command right now? Especially considering Dreadwing doesn't have as nearly nice legs as Starscream does ;)

What I Love About Black Widow 2021

SPOILERS, so read at your own risk ;)

There are so many things I absolutely loved about the Black Widow movie it would be insane to try and mention all of them, but I'm going to hit some of my favorites:

Firstly, we get to really see Nat shine as a fully fleshed out and relatable character, rather than obligatory female member and eye candy.

She doesn't like letting people get close to her because when she does, she tends to love them with all her heart and will do anything for them. So when they betray her or are taken away, the pain is so overwhelming that it's easier to try and forget them, and keep everyone else at a distance. But even after all that time has passed, you can see she never really let her loved ones go; they were always in her heart and she will always love them (something I can relate to).

And it's not just her family she cares about. She cares about other people, even the ones who try to kill her. She tried to save that first Widow that went after them - grab her before she fell, and then tried to administer first aide. When she sees that there are more girls enslaved, she risks her life to get their information so they can be freed. She doesn't leave Antonia in her cell to die, but lets her out, and then frees her by using one of the few remaining Red Dust cures, which was a risk because they could have needed it in order to create more, and she couldn't have known for sure it would work on Antonia.

Nat shows that compassion and mercy are not weaknesses, but the ultimate strengths.

But she's not without flaws, flaws and regrets that still haunt her. You see the relief in her eyes when she realizes she didn't kill Antonia, but then the guilt of knowing it was her fault she was turned into Taskmaster. To me, it sounded like she was apologizing for both. And it's those feelings of guilt and regret and the need to apologize that really make her human.

And then we see the other Widows take Antonia with them. My bestie put it like this: "Girls helping other girls regardless of what they've been through or done is really so universally powerful."

I love how the underlying themes of family, pain, guilt, mercy, compassion, and inner strength were so prominent in this film and yet, it wasn't preachy. I feel like the best messages are the ones that show rather than tell.

Now onto the not so heavy things I loved:

(Okay, this one is kinda heavy), Loved that despite having been apart for so long, Nat and Yelena easily fall back into being sisters. It's how I am with mine and the film was able to portray that so well.

Love how much of dork Yelena is about her vest and it's pockets. Actually, love how much of a dork Yelena is period. With her disgust of 'poses', blunt observations, and comments on whether something is a cool way to die. (and another slightly heavy love - the fact that she got her dog and named it after the alias Nat pointedly disliked).

Red Guardian being a horrible dad but still trying so hard anyway, because he loves his family and refuses to give up.

All the action scenes. Seriously. Love those action scenes. But also really appreciate the pacing that allowed the characters and audience to breathe.

Melina being the best mom. Every moment she has is a Best Mom moment.

Costumes were amazing. (I want that vest, including all the pockets).

That the director was a woman. Yes to more female directors!

The witty dialogue between all the characters in every scene. Seriously, none of those jokes let me down and had me laughing so hard.

The fact that we get to see a low-key call back to Nat's introduction in Avengers where she pretends to be helpless in order to get the bad guys to reveal their 'diabolical plans'. Works every time.

Still am super sad that Nat Black Widow is dead in the MCU, but I'm thrilled she got to go off on a super high note.

...

Soooo, there actually was one thing I didn't like (but it certainly didn't ruin the movie for me, I am going to watch it again and again and get so much merch).

But I had a problem with Taskmaster.

To me, Taskmaster had the potential to be Marvel's Thrawn (a different sort of main threat that forces the established heroes to struggle in ways they haven't had to before and defeat said threat using new skills). So to treat Taskmaster as more of a throwaway cameo character was disappointing. Because honestly, the story doesn't need them. They could have been swapped with any random Widow and the plot would have stayed exactly the same - having Taskmaster in the movie doesn't add to the story in any way. So I'm hoping Marvel will have someone else take on the mantle and we really get to see them as a major threat.

But other than that, THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING!!! 9/10 from me. It has become one of my top three best/favorite Marvel movies for me, alongside Captain America: the First Avenger and Black Panther.

Why I have no sympathy for men being dumped because of the Barbie movie:

Earlier this evening I was driving on the highway to head to my writers group. I needed to change lanes to get to my exit and proceeded to do so, enjoying the scenic ride. That is until a car horn starts and continues to blast behind me.

I turn to look and a giant truck has appeared behind me (I honestly didn’t see it when I went to turn). And because the truck continued at its breakneck speed (while still blaring its horn at me, causing me to get even more flustered), I had to speed up to avoid getting rammed because another car was already coming up behind me in my original lane. But my car is little and old, and can’t go 0 to 60 in 0.3 seconds, so the truck continued to blast its horn at me the whole time I’m trying not to cause an accident.

I finally make it to my exit without crashing into anyone, but then my stomach sinks as I see the truck now riding my tail as I get off the exit. Now I’m terrified this person is going to ram me out of spite.

The exit joins up to the town road, but you have to yield to oncoming traffic, so I do. The truck then suddenly swerves out from behind me, and as they rush by, the driver and his passenger flip me off as they scream profanities that consist of female slurs (which originally were just plain old words until some man decided to make them curses because they happened to be female centered terms).

Now I’m really shaken up and am forced to drive behind them until the road splits into two. But horror of all horrors, I end up almost right next to them at a red light. I can feel them staring at me and I’m now scared out of my mind.

Thankfully, a police car with its lights and sirens on drove past us, and that seemed to cool the trucktosterones down because they peeled off into the next side street and I didn’t see them again.

All this to say, it’s probably men like these that are getting dumped because of the Barbie movie, and I’M GLAD.

Black Panther: Pride

“So this is the blacks’ Coco.”

That was the first thing my papi said when I asked him what he thought of the movie. He’s not the best when it comes to being sensitive (he tends to say all the politically incorrect terms just for the fun of it, actually). So when I got past the bluntness of his statement, I realized what he actually meant.

Pixar’s Coco is a movie that is very dear to me because I am a Mexican-American. My papi immigrated to the U.S. and thus my family grew up with a different set of culture values and traditions; I grew up as part of a minority. 

So when Pixar came out with Coco, I was one of the first to see it. And what pleased me more than the homages to Mexican culture was the reaction it received worldwide. It became a source of pride for me that people loved a film that was based on my culture; a minority culture.

And what my papi had said summed up Black Panther: it is a movie based on a minority culture and people love it, they praise it because it is different and captivating.

I don’t wish to presume, but as a fellow member of a minority, I think it’s wonderful that those of African heritage (wherever they are from now), can look at Black Panther, see how much others love it, and take it as a point of Pride.