Photoset
May 15, 2013
22,356 notes

wilwheaton:

jenniferdeguzman:

He said Star Trek is too “philosophical”? Screw that noise.

mechcanuck:

I don’t know when this interview happened but I AM SAD AND ANGRY NOW 

The philosophies in Star Trek are kinda part of the actual setting. If you don’t get that, why are you allowed to make Star Trek movies.

Sigh. The whole point of Star Trek is that it’s philosophical. If you don’t want philosophical Science Fiction, there’s plenty of that for you to enjoy, but Star Trek is philosophical. Philosophy is part of Star Trek’s DNA, and if you’re given the captain’s chair, you’d better damn well respect that.

I’ve been meaning to write up my feelings about the last Star Trek movie before the new one comes out, but this sums up exactly how Abrams went about taking a giant shit all over it. It was a good sci fi action-adventure flick, but it was terrible Star Trek.

(Source: catbushandludicrous)

Tags: sci fi science fiction star trek

Text
May 10, 2013

Oh, good. My 500th post was calling out the US for supporting genocide. At least I’m doing something worthwhile around here now and then.

Link
May 10, 2013
189 notes
A Guatemalan court has convicted a former dictator of genocide involving Mayans. More details:

shortformblog:

A Guatemalan court has convicted former dictator Efrain Rios Montt on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to 80 years in prison.

The 86-year-old former general is the first former Latin American leader ever found guilty of such a charge.

A three-judge tribunal issued the verdict after the nearly two-month trial in which dozens of victims testified about horrific atrocities.

Rios Montt denies having knowledge of the massacres that happened involving indigenous people while he was in power.

Gosh, I wonder if I can think of any North American superpower that was funding, arming, training and “advising” Guatemala at the time and for the next decade or more as the slaughter continued.

I might have to think about this.

(via fylatinamericanhistory)

Tags: history guatemala genocide imperialism

Photo
May 05, 2013
213 notes
fylatinamericanhistory: Today In Latin American History The Battle of Puebla, which has become a popular holiday in the United States under the name Cinco de Mayo, took place on May 5, 1862, when a Mexican army led by Ignacio Zaragoza (who was born in what is now the state of Texas) defeated a much larger French army during the time of the French Intervention in Mexico. A significant victory, it nevertheless failed to put and end to France’s designs on the country, and French military forces were able to take over the Mexican capital some time later. Napoleon III eventually installed the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph as Emperor Maximiliano I of Mexico in 1864. French involvement in the country would continue for the next few years, with a definitive end arriving with the ouster and eventual execution of Maximiliano I in 1867. Future Mexican president Porfirio Díaz was a military officer during the Battle of Puebla, and the holiday is said to have gained greater prominence in the country—and, eventually, in the neighboring United States—during his rule at the turn of the century, although the day is also said to have been celebrated by Mexican miners in California in the 1860s. The anniversary of the Battle of Puebla is currently considered a regional event in Mexico, celebrated in the state of Puebla. In the United States, the holiday is often confused with the date of Mexican independence, which is celebrated on the 16th of September. Just because you really ought to know this kind of stuff.

fylatinamericanhistory:

Today In Latin American History

The Battle of Puebla, which has become a popular holiday in the United States under the name Cinco de Mayo, took place on May 5, 1862, when a Mexican army led by Ignacio Zaragoza (who was born in what is now the state of Texas) defeated a much larger French army during the time of the French Intervention in Mexico. A significant victory, it nevertheless failed to put and end to France’s designs on the country, and French military forces were able to take over the Mexican capital some time later. Napoleon III eventually installed the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph as Emperor Maximiliano I of Mexico in 1864. French involvement in the country would continue for the next few years, with a definitive end arriving with the ouster and eventual execution of Maximiliano I in 1867. Future Mexican president Porfirio Díaz was a military officer during the Battle of Puebla, and the holiday is said to have gained greater prominence in the country—and, eventually, in the neighboring United States—during his rule at the turn of the century, although the day is also said to have been celebrated by Mexican miners in California in the 1860s. The anniversary of the Battle of Puebla is currently considered a regional event in Mexico, celebrated in the state of Puebla. In the United States, the holiday is often confused with the date of Mexican independence, which is celebrated on the 16th of September.

Just because you really ought to know this kind of stuff.

Tags: history mexico

Quote
April 21, 2013
896 notes
"Neo-colonialism is also the worst form of imperialism. For those who practise it, it means power without responsibility and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation without redress."

— Kwame Nkrumah. “Introduction.” Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. (1970)

(Source: bougieasshoodlum, via credible-adventures)

Photo
April 18, 2013
9 notes

(Source: grossnational)

Tags: klf Justified and Ancient 3AM

Photo
April 09, 2013
14 notes
gunsandposes: A happy historical birthday to pioneering actor-singer-activist Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976), seen here in a publicity still for the 1933 film adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. (Doctor Macro)

gunsandposes:

A happy historical birthday to pioneering actor-singer-activist Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976), seen here in a publicity still for the 1933 film adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones.

(Doctor Macro)

Link
April 08, 2013
4 notes
Doctor Who Embodies Post-Imperial Britain

crave-the-creative:

Now there’s an article title you don’t see everyday…

Article doesn’t live up to its title, but the idea is worth exploring in greater depth. Keeping it here to revisit.

Maybe this post will also remind me to write something about how Star Wars is the first post-Vietnam space opera and what this means for representations of empire.

EDIT: But it probably won’t.

Tags: doctor who imperialism Post-Colonialism star wars

Photo
April 08, 2013
252 notes
punk-to-funk: Thatcher’s Britain

punk-to-funk:

Thatcher’s Britain

(via nezua)

Photoset
March 25, 2013
12 notes

algopop:

Darius Kazemi recently launched Clickbait, a webpage that automatically creates listicle headlines, in response to his personal anger at an article that listed two of his friends under Complex Magazine’s 40 Hottest Women in Tech. The algorithm behind it appears to select a random number + adjective + noun and then find a matching image.