Are "The Hobbit" Casting Directors....Racist!?!?!

Article originally appeared on Jezebel.com

AH! It's the 'R' word! The word that is quickly becoming about as meaningless as 'love' in our ever-evolving shit storm of a society. So here's the controversy; the casting team for the upcoming film "The Hobbit" rejected a woman as a hobbit extra. The reason? Her skin was not the color of all the other hobbits they had cast, i.e she was darker than her short brethren. Discriminatory? In the pure sense of the word, yes. Racist? Come on. The idea that somehow, the individuals who contribute to casting decisions are actively pursuing a racist, presumably white-supremacist, agenda, is not only absurd and insulting, but actually degrades true instances of racism. Someone being denied a job that does not inherently depend on their outward appearance because of race? That's serious, and seriously wrong. But the decision to create a homogeneous image of a particular, fantastical species? A species that only exists in one specific area and where going more than a few miles afield is nearly unheard of? Find an actual issue to bitch about, please.

Another argument that this mess-of-an-article attempts to make is that all evil characters in LOTR are dark and all good characters are white.

Not like is a seriously evil wizard named Saroman the White or anything...

And as for the charge that this is dark/white thing in relation to groups, I'll just leave this incredibly awesome comment here:

From VictorScope: "Wrong. Nowhere does Tolkien claim that the Easterlings (or any other human society) are innately evil. In fact, he strongly suggests the exact opposite when he describes Sam finding the body of a dead Easterling after meeting Faramir.

It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.

Clearly, the narrow-minded perspective of a racist xenophobe. (But whatever.)"

I'm gonna go read me some Tolkien now...

Stay Beautiful,

IK

Oh, Winter....

It's actually kind of, well....cold here. I know, right? Impossible! But it is. And with that temperature drop, the familiar trance-like state of December dawns.

Why No Editing SUCKS

So I decided to dive back in to writing. And see, I have this thing, where I don't like the little red squiggly lines that appear under words I've misspelled. I want to fix them IMMEDIATELY. Which means that I usually get about half-way through a scene before i get so fed up with the lines that I stop writing and immediately have to correct it all. And by the time I'm done with all that......the writing train has left the station. I'm doing it right now even! STOP IT. YOU CAN EDIT THIS LATER, FOOL. bejeeezus...

The logical thing would be for me to just turn off those squiggly red lines....but logic Pshhh, what fun is that old thing?!

Harry Potter, RAWR

Oh Tatiana, you fan-girl you....
(Thanks for the edit, my dear)

Cat Stevens Before He Radicaled Himself

I've been listening to Cat Stevens alot recently for a couple of reasons. One, the lovely british youtube boys covered one of his songs, Here Comes My Baby, which kinda remembered him to me, in a way. That sounds so pompous. Ah, suck it, i might as well live up to my heinous indie cindy reputation. Right...where was I? Uh..C Steeves! Right, anyway, the other reason I've been listening to him alot is that his song Wild World is quite possibly the greatest "shits-blowing-up-and-i-can't-do-shit-to-stop-it" song ever. I have now realized that almost every song i like falls into that category. I am a depressing human being.

Anyway. Cat Stevens. The shit, even if he did go a little crazy with religion and all that. And if you want to know more about that, go read his children's book "A is for Allah"! (No, I do not make shit that good up.)

Stay Beautiful,

IK

The Mercy Project

So a friend of mine who is studying alot of ethics related areas right now was talking with me and my psych obsessed friend about something he likes to call the "Mercy Project". Basically, it's a way of living, where every day you do something that will relieve some small weight on someone's shoulders. Whether it be lettignt hem off on those two bucks they owe you, telling them they have a great smile when they're having an "ugly day" or forgiving someone for something that isn't really that important. These small acts of "mercy" start to foster a warm, inviting aura and are supposedly very good for business (thats the ethics part).

But my psych friend was talking about how these random acts of kindness are actually extremely beneficial for the psyche of the person delivering them. Apparently, the hormone released when one does a good deed have a similar affect to the endorphins released from exercise. So while you may not burn calories from giving someone a word of encouragement, you can get a rush yourself...

Something to think about implementing, eh?

Stay Beautiful, Loves,

IK

Mean Girls

So I'll admit to not knowing exactly how to start this blog post. I'm mostly light-hearted and jovial on this blog and I'm definitely not trying to give the impression that I'm going to be changing the tone in general. But instead of posting this on my more ranty private blog, i really want to create a sort of public forum to discuss something thats been on my mind lately. Which, if you couldn't tell from the title, has to do with the joy of being a teenage girl in high school.

So, I think that being in high school could quite possibly be the most taxing and difficult experiences I've gone through in my life, and I've dealt with some real shit. I don't know what it is, but I've never experienced such animosity in any other situation. And what i can't figure out, is if this mentality of blatant hate and animosity is biological, or something society has taught us. With all the technology at our disposal, there are many more ways to inflict pain on others, without having to have the bravery to do so in person. We get to hide with our cowardice behind the internet, cell phones and potential anonymity.

And i want to make it clear that i am in no way eschewing any culpability on my part on occasion. I have been as much a part of this as anyone, but I was lucky enough to realize fairly early on that there was something wrong about the way we attack one another. Perhaps it is my own mentality, or my own personal struggles, but i find the attacks on another's body type, looks or personality to be cruel, immature and frankly, sad.

But what i want to talk about is WHY these things happen. Why are we the generation of mean girls? Why are girls committing suicide or checking into mental facilities to escape their existences filled with bullying and animosity? Why do we attack other girls to build ourselves up? Why are body snarking, ho-calling and attacks on personalities so prevalent amongst us? Why are we allowing these predetermined standards of society to erode our sense of self and justice? Why does calling someone out on how much they weigh, or what size pants they wear make you feel better? Where is YOUR self-esteem? Where is YOUR confidence? Are we really so lacking in morality that we see nothing wrong with these attacks against others?

These are just questions that i want answers too. I want to know WHY. And if you can shed any light, please do so.

Stay Beautiful,

IK

p.s. If you want another view, visit Maile's blog, where she goes after a specific aspect of this problem.

In Which I Turn Into a Hypnotized Raver....

So i have this super bad habit of falling in love at first sight. Usually it's with musicians (mmhmmm Kele Okereke), and that works out fine. Cause like, theres such a disconnect there. And thousands of equally obnoxious hipster-wannabes (blargh) are jsut as in love with his bi-sexual ass. But when it happens in real life? Like, with a NORMAL person? Whoa. Not cool, brain! Rewind that, if you please. It's funny, b/c normally i'm so rational. And then...boom. I'm not. And i want to bone you.

But on to the crux. Last night i meet someone who falls in love like i do. In fact, i meet a couple. And they were AWESOME. There's nothing like being surrounded by child-like kids, falling in love with the man on stage. It's like being transported to another, i guess, world, with a surge and pulse of desire rushing through the room. Desire for the beat, a rush, anything. And when the DJ can eat it up and send it back out in soundwaves? It's magic.

Stay Beautiful Loves,

IK

OMG JESSE MCCARTNEY YOU GUYZZ!!!!!

So premptive apology: i've turned into a Jesse McCartney loving zombie. I can't help myself. it's just....disastrous. So here's the song that converted me...



Also, he's an actor. And not a shit one! I KNOW, right? Anyway, considering that i spent WAY too much of lsat night vomiting (yay antibiotics!) i spent all day today on my bed watching crap. And the only non-crap i managed to view was this movie called "Keith". Remember "A Walk To Remember"? It reminds me alot of that. It had the same tear-jerk factor. But the guy was basically an asshole. And not apologetic about it. And sometimes, i really like when people who are absolute dicks just own it.

Stay Beautiful,

IK

In Honor of The Impending Series of Bang-Overs

FIrst off, before any of your little heads come up with a dirty meaning of "bang-over", it's the term that tatiana and i use to describe the after shock feeling that you get the morning after an epic concert. You know, when you can still taste the smoke, your ears will not stop ringing and you still smell like sweat and spilled beer....

Well, this summer, im going to be in a near constant state of bang over. And it's gonna be off the chain. So, here are a sampling of the bands i'm going to see, and some of their awesome songiness.

Stay Beautiful,

IK


The National


(the movie's actually pretty sick too, btw.)

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings



TECH N9NE


Yeah....i love this song. You can mock me for it, its cool.


Wolf Parade

Mumford and Sons

I am such an anglophile and that could explain my love for this song. partially. I think the raw emotion that M&S put into their work kinda has something to do with it too...

If you're into them, check out their EP, particularly "The Cave". It's a rollicking good time of a song.

Liverpool FC and Judy Garland

Doesn't music from the 40's -50's always remind you of the beginning of the classic Cinderella or Snow White?

Anyway, this is one of my favorite JG songs, and i find it quite serendipitous that my favorite football team's motto is "You'll Never Walk Alone". So in honor of the somewhat beleaguered beauty that is Liverpool FC....



And for the beautiful, i mean uh, talented... TALENTED Fernando Torres...

Every End Has A Start

Today marks a giant "end" in my life, and I'm having trouble finding a "start". It's troubling when you can't see exactly where the cliff edge is, isn't it? Well, in honor of my perhaps imminent tumble, a little Joy Division to give a little boast of irony to your day...