The Thursday Edition - May 17, 2018
Fresh from your pals at themarysue.com
TV, contributors, Gina Torres, Suits

Jessica Pearson: The Suits Character’s Understated Impact on Black Women’s Roles in Television

SUITS -- Season: 4 -- Pictured: Gina Torres as Jessica Pearson -- (Photo by: Nigel Parry/USA Network)
TV is getting better at bringing brilliantly nuanced, refreshingly real, and bring diverse depictions of Black women to life, but Suits character Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) is often left out of this conversation. She's been a TV mainstay since 2011, but her impactful character doesn’t garner enough praise.
TV, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Wayward Sisters

The CW Isn’t Spinning off Supernatural Because They’re Spinning off The Vampire Diaries

Wayward Sisters and Legacies on The CW
Fans of Supernatural were disappointed when the CW network passed on greenlighting Wayward Sisters, a long-in-the-works spinoff of the Winchesterian world. Now we know why.
Gaming, Microsoft, video games, Xbox

Microsoft’s Accessibility-Geared Xbox “Adaptive Controller” Is Genius

xbox adaptive controller 2
Gamers who have been at their hobby for a long time might not find game controllers, even in all the weird evolutions they've gone through—looking at you, N64 controller—to be difficult to use, but we've all seen someone struggle with them at one point or another. They're fairly complex input devices, which can make them difficult to use for players with physical disabilities. Microsoft's new Xbox Adaptive Controller has addressed that problem in a rather ingenious way.
Big on the Internet, TV, Netflix, Tina Fey, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

New Trailer for Final Season of the Titus Show … I Mean Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Season 4 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt streams May 30th on Netflix.
News, racial discrimination, racism, Yale University

Things We Saw Today: The Department of Education Will Investigate Issues of Discrimination at Yale … As Long as You’re a White Student

yale discrimination male tears
Recently, Yale University has been at the center of our ongoing national conversation about racism and discrimination, after a white student called the police on a black student for napping in their dorm common room. So far, Yale has failed to address the incident in any meaningful way. Now, though, the Department of Education wants us to know that they're taking issues of seriously and launching an investigation into potential systematic discrimination ... against white students.
Big on the Internet, cosplay, gender equality, Star Wars (franchise)

America Young and Dove Meir Use “Hana Solo and Slave Leo” to Fight for Gender Equality and LGBTQIA Representation

Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford
If you follow the Internet's favorite uncle, Mark Hamill, on Twitter, you may have noticed the above tweet, featuring actors America Young and Dove Meir cosplaying as "Hana Solo" and "Slave Leo." The two Star Wars fans recently discussed the reasoning behind their pretty epic photo shoot.
Movies, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Ryan Reynolds

Deadpool 2 Has Trolled the Critics into Liking It

Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin in 'Deadpool 2'
After a stretch of super serious superhero movies, Deadpool 2 is here to make you laugh and forget about half the galaxy turning into piles of dust.
News, Latinx, Spanish, xenophobia

Manhattan Douchebro Threatens to Call ICE Because Women Dared to Speak Spanish in His Presence

Protest outside of US Customs and Border Protection
Imagine how terrible your life must be if the very sound of another language is enough to send you into a hissyfit.
Books, Book Review, menstruation, Period: Twelve Voices Tell The Bloody Truth

Period: Twelve Voices Tell The Bloody Truth Is an Amazing Collection of Personal Essays on That Time of the Month

period cover
In a collection of personal essays, the book Period: Twelve Voices Tell The Bloody Truth highlights several different experiences with that time of the month so many of us share. It includes narratives from intersex, trans man, and disabled perspectives that really helped me, as a cis woman, understand the wider reality of what menstruation can represent.
TV, Alfred Pennyworth, Epix, Gotham

Epix Orders Batman Prequel Series Pennyworth Centering on Young Alfred

The Lego Batman Movie
Epix has picked up a ten episode order for Pennyworth from Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller. The series centers on a young Alfred Pennyworth and his adventures as a former British SAS soldier who forms a secret company and goes to work with Thomas Wayne in 1960's London. The series will take place before Alfred becomes Batman's butler, guardian, and confidante.
Technology, net neutrality, Senate

The Senate Just Voted to Save Net Neutrality, but the House Is Probably Going to Screw It Up

sign says internet open
The story around "net neutrality" has probably already given you more than your fair share of whiplash at this point. It's alive! It's dead. But not yet! But more than likely soon. But not there's one more step! After which it will probably be dead. But—! You get the point. Well, get ready for another round.
Big on the Internet, Nicole Arbour, racism

I Have to Believe That Nicole Arbour Isn’t a Real Person So That Any of This Can Make Sense

The more ignorance Nicole Arbour spews, whether in her "comedy" or as herself, the more I have to believe that she's some kind of Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton construction of a personality. Somewhere out there, there's a real Nicole who's examining society by putting this troll of a character out into the world, Stephen Colbert-style. That's the explanation, right? Right?
Big on the Internet, Cannes Film Festival, dress codes, Kristen Stewart

My New Hero Kristen Stewart Ditched Her High Heels on the Cannes Red Carpet

Kristen Stewart at Cannes red carpet
Kristen Stewart was headed to the premiere of Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman when she did something unprecedented for a movie star at the fancy French film festival.
Books, If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, Leila Sales, young adult fiction

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice To Say by Leila Sales Tackles Call out Culture in the Age of Twitter and Social Media

Copy of IYDHANTS
Winter Halperin, after coming in second-place at a spelling bee, posts this on her social media: "We learned many surprising things today. Like that dehnstufe is apparently a word, and that a black kid can actually win the Spelling Bee." What follows is an internet storm she is no way prepared for.
AMP Featured, Movies, Avengers: Infinity War, contributors, Marvel Entertainment

We Need to Talk About Avengers: Infinity War’s Treatment of Mantis

Marvel Studios' AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR..L to R: Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Drax (Dave Bautista), Star-Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff).
Avengers: Infinity War is a film up to its eyeballs in superheroes. In fact, there are superheroes of almost every variety: the technologically advanced, the genetically modified, the masters of magic, and even a god or two. That said, one can’t really be angry that Mantis didn’t have many lines of dialogue. Though, one can certainly be disappointed with what she said in those limited lines.
Movies, Cannes Film Festival, misogyny, sexual misconduct

Cannes Un-Bans Lars von Trier for Ultra Misogynistic Torture Porn The House That Jack Built

lars von trier, cannes, house that jack built, ban
Back in 2011, director Lars von Trier made some comments during a Cannes press conference about being a Nazi and sympathizing with Hitler. The festival immediately banned him. Now, seven years later (and only seven months after Bjork accused von Trier of sexual harassment) the festival has apparently forgiven the director and allowed him to screen his new film, The House That Jack Built. Turns out that screening didn't go too well, though.
Technology, Insects, killer robots, robot apocalypse

The First Wireless Flying Robot Insect is Here to Haunt Your Dreams

University of Washington
Humanity continues to barrel head-first into the robot apocalypse, with no signs of slowing down. This week, scientists at the University of Washington debuted the RoboFly, the first wireless insect-sized flying robot. RoboFly is slightly heavier than a toothpick and is powered by an invisible laser beam, which is then converted to laser energy via a tiny onboard circuit.
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