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Every year on International Women’s Day, the internet gets flooded with men demanding to know when International Men’s Day is. Those men have apparently never taken the time to Google the question because the answer is today, November 19th.

Happy #InternationalMensDay to the men who never ask, “Well, is there an International MEN’S DAY?!?!” on International Women’s Day

— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) November 19, 2019

The idea of a Men’s Day is complicated, since–much like the recent focus on Straight Pride Parades–a lot of the demand for one comes as a response to Women’s Day, without recognizing that International Women’s Day was born out of women’s marginalization at the hands of cis men.

It’s clear that when men demand to know about THEIR day on and only on a day dedicated to women, they don’t actually care.

So you had eight months to prep. You must have come up with something amazing. It’s today. What are you doing? https://t.co/79gjNrW4s4

— Richard K Herring (@Herring1967) November 19, 2019

So yes, many of those men are asking in bad faith and should be treated as such, if not ignored completely. What shouldn’t be ignored are the issues actual good-faith actors and organizations have put at the center of International Men’s Day–issues like mental health, toxic masculinity, making sure boys have positive male role models, and the distressingly high suicide rate among men and boys.

#InternationalMensDay
Men (& boys) can be affected by:
Depression
Anxiety
Anorexia
(C)PTSD
Bipolar
Bulimia
Psychosis
OCD
BPD
Loneliness
& suicide which is the biggest killer of men under the age of 50
Fellas, you have to speak out, there is no shame in suffering, silence can kill

— MentalHealthMillion (@MentalHealthMil) November 19, 2019

Men living in the UK:

12 men each day take their own lives;

7/10 murder victims are male;

85% of people reported to be sleeping homeless are male

95% of the prison population is male;

84% of suicides linked to the recession were men.

This is not OK.#InternationalMensDay

— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) November 19, 2019

Today is #InternationalMensDay. Yet, 31% of men said they would feel too embarrassed to seek help for a mental health problem.

Being in your friend’s corner could make a real difference to their life. So, if you notice your mate is acting differently, reach out. pic.twitter.com/Nq7Qf2T2bD

— Time to Change (@TimetoChange) November 19, 2019

Would have rolled my eyes at #InternationalMensDay in years gone by, however I now recognize that while male privilege does exist – gay, trans and men of colour do not always benefit from it, and also that men’s mental health stigma is a massive issue that need attench 💓

— holly x (@hollyshortall) November 19, 2019

• Here’s why there were psychics (and psychic squids!) in Alan Moore’s Watchmen. (via Polygon)
• The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare gave away free Sailor Moon condoms last month. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
• A record number of TV episodes were directed by women and POC this year. That record number, by the way, is half–meaning the other half were directed by white men. Happy International Men’s Day, everybody! You did it! (via Variety)
• Bong Joon-ho coming in with the hot and perfect takes:
  

  Okay, this is the only good answer. We can stop with these questions now. pic.twitter.com/fyDijlu5Ii

  — Will Goss (@williambgoss) November 19, 2019

• Ayanna Pressley is calling for the decriminalization of sex work. (via Vice)
• Taking on white nationalism? Elizabeth Warren has a plan for that. (via ElizabethWarren.com)
• Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
  

  OH MY GOD THIS IS MY LITERAL DREAM CASTING!!!!!!!!!! https://t.co/vwZimiOXkR

  — Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) November 19, 2019

What did you all see out there today?

(image: Samantha Hurley from Burst)
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—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Dragon Con 2019 featured cool cosplay. (Photo Credit: Keenan McClelland)

Dragon Con 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia, was an absolute success this year! The pop culture, fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming convention attracted a record-breaking 85,000 attendees for the five-day celebration and raised over $110,000 for its official 2019 charity, the American Heart Association’s Georgia affiliate.

The show brought in all kinds of genre favorites like George Takei and Lou Ferrigno, along with A-List celebrities including Karl Urban and Jack Quaid from Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys, Zachary Levi from Shazam!, and David Tennant who most of us know simply as The Doctor. And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to talent at Dragon Con. Hundreds of artists from all around take up two floors of the show space, and a third for the actual art show that is held at the event. There is a floor dedicated to arcade games and tabletop games, viewing rooms, multiple dealers rooms, parades, parties, panels, you name it, Dragon Con’s got it.

But it’s the costumes that I feel really bring all the attendees out to Dragon Con each year, or as I like to call it when the sun goes down; Nerdy Gras! I’ve talked with so many attendees who tell me it is the one show they come back to each year and try and outdo themselves costume-wise. These outfits blow anything away that you may see downtown on Halloween. We’re talking full-armored suits, living-breathing dragons, entire superhero teams, and just some of the coolest cosplay you will ever see in person.

Check out all the amazing costumes below from this past year. If anything, It may help you prep for the 2020 show.

Make sure to grab your tickets for next year’s Dragon Con event right here! 

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Aquaman, or at least the guy who plays Aquaman, referred to humanity as a “disease” in a U.N. speech on climate change earlier this year, with the harsh words implying a worldwide moral failing for humankind, especially when it comes to how our species takes care of Earth’s oceans. But obviously there are plenty of people who still care about marine life, such as Henry Kim, a Korean fashion designer who built a “wheelchair” for his disabled goldfish.

In a video posted to the YouTube channel, Caters Clips, Kim’s extraordinary act of fish affection is described, and it’s just as selfless and creative as it sounds. In fact, it may even be more impressive than it seems, because Kim has managed to keep the goldfish alive for far longer than it should’ve been; a BoredPanda article discussing Kim’s invention quotes Kim as saying that goldfish infected with a disease like the one that currently grips this wheelchair-using fish usually results in death after just a couple of months, while his fish has already been alive for five months. The average lifespan of a goldfish, by the way, is apparently a whopping 10 to 15 years.

The invention, which we first heard about via Laughing Squid, is an ingenious way of keeping goldfish afloat, right side up, when they become infected with an ailment known as swim bladder disease. Swim bladder disease, sometimes referred to as swim bladder disorder, is common among aquarium fish, and affects their ability to control their buoyancy. While normal goldfish are able to float right side up, and change elevation in water at will, fish infected with swim bladder disease are unable to control their direction and level of floatation. This is because their swim bladder, an internal gas-filled organ, is dysfunctional thanks to either intestinal parasites, or constipation due to overfeeding.

And while the swim bladder disease wiki notes that it can be cured by feeding green peas to an infected fish, or having “fish surgeons” adjust the fish’s buoyancy by putting a stone in the swim bladder—or even removing a part of the bladder—presumably Kim’s wheelchair is more effective and less costly. (We can only imagine how much money it costs to have a “fish surgeon” come out to your house to perform bladder surgery.)

A healthy swim bladder. Uwe Gille

It’s unclear if Kim plans on making his goldfish wheelchair, or at least the instructions on how to build it, available for fish aficionados (a-fish-ionados?) everywhere. In the meantime, people can try that green pea treatment, which is supposed to work within a few hours. If you need a step-by-step guide on how to manage that little maneuver, the website Complete Goldfish Care has you covered.

What do you think about Kim’s goldfish wheelchair? Does a small, yet heartwarming act of kindness like this restore your faith in humanity and its ability to take care of marine life? Float your opinions, in a healthy, balanced way, in the comments!

Feature image: Henry Kim via Caters Clips

The post Kind Man Builds ‘Wheelchair’ for His Disabled Goldfish appeared first on Nerdist.

Disrupting The Format

Late night is a diverse form of comedic television that allows the host and writing team to treat topics differently while distorting the “classic” format for their audiences. As a Black writer with a background in poetics, I find peculiar ways to tap into “my voice” as I study hosts and cultivate packets for submissions. While I was going through this week’s late night “briefing” I came across similarities between my favorite comic book character and one of my favorite Late Night hosts. Reading Deadpool comics and studying Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj affected my approach to monologue jokes and gave me permission to approach honesty in new ways.

I know what you’re thinking…

Imagine, Wade Wilson — the most chaotic neutral Late Night host that ever existed. We’d love to see it. (Or, maybe it’s just me). Deadpool’s presence in comics, cinema, and video games gave me a way to use his personality as an outline for what makes a show dynamic. What I appreciate in the comics about our beloved Wade Wilson, is that across many interpretations and adaptations, the creative team appeals to the senses of the reader, but will whisk them away into a different image, smell, or emotion often without warning. That amazing feeling. Keeping the reader on their toes, and taking them on adventures that will seemingly go one place but then it takes various sharp turns with the danger of crashing at any moment. I feel the same effects from the Patriot Act creative team and their ability to use visual media and research to take fans on a journey — taking a concept or topic we may love and absolutely destroying it by the end of the episode.

Hasan is Daring, Deadpool Holds no Regrets

When I read Deadpool comics, I am prepared. I might have read the summary before I read the comic, might have seen a couple of preview panels but I know what’s going to happen. I’m about to step in knowing one thing, and look back multiple times and ask: “What just happened?” One of the most important aspects of comedy is the element of anticipation. Comedy explores the identity of power politics. Anticipation creates a middle ground for expectations. Sometimes audiences are able to anticipate jokes, and it reaps a reward, but what I love about Patriot Act and Deadpool comics is their mutual ability to divert the tracks of expectation.

Both Wade Wilson and Hasan Minhaj paint you a scene, then diverge you into a separate image that pushes the limits of absurdity. An example of this in Deadpool is in Skottie Young’s Deadpool #14, War of the Realms Arc. There we see Deadpool and “the knockoff super squad” battling against a terrorizing group of Gremlins. Deadpool’s usual reaction to trouble is: Kill everything, leave nothing behind. By the end of the comic, we see Wade in a business transaction making money off the Gremlins that weren’t killed, turning them into an amusement park attraction. (Remember these Gremlins still have the ability to eat people.) The power dynamic between the gore of monsters that eat people versus the innocence of amusement parks is a strategic comedy method that torments the ideology behind blissful ignorance. Deadpool’s social ineptness is a punchline that begins from the first glance of a panel. The stability from set up to punchline is not linear, and it keeps readers on their toes.

In Patriot Act, Hasan is at his most powerful when he brings in unconventional comparisons to the dark concepts he explores. Like many Deadpool comics, Hasan and his team of writers take a play on knowledge and press it against popular concepts in order to produce witty results. In season one, episode two, the controversial episode surrounding Saudi Arabia, Hasan delves into the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia without holding back the bars of accountability. In this episode, the topic of terrorism, and the United States involvement with the Saudi Arabian government, got a visit from a pop culture reference people normally associate with joy. An example of this is when Hasan stated: “Remember, America hates terrorists. Saudi Arabia gave them passports. Saudi Arabia was basically the boy band manager of 9/11. They didn’t write the songs, but they helped get the group together”.

The similarities that I enjoy from Deadpool comics and Patriot Act is that neither shies away from the gore, but rather accompanies it with something seemingly innocent in order to heighten the bluntness. When I see this tactic used in Late Night, it is utilized in a way of comparing people’s relationship to the public eye, but Hasan connects broader concepts to tangible visual objects and themes. The play on anticipation is that you’re captured with facts that reel you in, and then you’re derailed into a comparison that’s seemingly absurd, but instead feels like a parable.

via GIPHY

Hasan and Wade Mock You with Words and Knives

Visual art has the ability to create different worlds for consumers and ignite an emotional pull by latching itself to the imagination. The award winning digital media team at Patriot Act utilizes images in order to create an immersive experience with their audiences. The audience has a relationship to the screen much like how comic book readers have a relationship to the color schemes on a panel. Images have the ability to inform characters of things they are not aware of, create gray areas, and plant emotional seeds for incoming events. When I read Deadpool comics, sometimes the comedy is hidden in the background, or it is expressed in the eccentricity of the kill. Blood is often accompanied with a chuckle, and that’s an important part in cultivating an experience for viewers. The words of Wade could easily be taken as something dark and pensive if accompanied by art that does not accentuate the words. In the same breath, with words in Patriot Act Hasan challenges the relationship the viewer has with the screen by moving away from simple picture in picture and allowing the screen to hold a broad space behind him. Much like movements through the panels of a comic book. Whether it is a graph or pictures of foreign leaders, many Late Night hosts could take example from Hasan’s innovative visual storytelling.

Through the usage of anticipation, the relationship to innocence, and visual accompaniment to aid in storytelling I believe that many aspiring comedians and late night writers can learn from the world of comedy outside of sketches and stand-up. The beauty of storytelling has different gray areas to explore that aid in not only producing laughs but also pushing people to learn about concepts in unconventional ways. I hope to see more interpretations of Deadpool in ways that not only challenge the way we see comedy, but how we perceive gray areas in relationships and self reflection. In Patriot Act I hope to see the creative team challenge the way we ingest comedy. Going beyond just words and quick graphics but creating a story and cultivating an immersive relationship with the audience while using different artistic media.

via GIPHY

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The post Deadpool at the Dead of Night: A Late Night Breakdown with Wade Wilson appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.