The Broken Throne

Marvel’s issues with morality and hero resumes

Marvel hides in moral ambiguity presented as “complex heroes” to avoid dealing with the fact that all these characters, like Captain America, that they and the masses have been putting on pedestals for decades aren’t heroes at all. What you’ll find in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Avengers to Guardians of the Galaxy to Marvel’s Agents of Shield is that the “heroes” are only cleaning up…

The Problem of Keeping Order

  More than most people, as a Black woman, I wish that social structures meant to make things better worked as advertised. Unfortunately, depending on what the people living and working in those structures are doing and what the people in charge of maintaining those structures are doing, they rarely do what they’re supposed to do. The structure and the people. Now that I’m an employee for the…

My Pre-Beef with ‘Black Panther’

The Marvel Black Panther film looks nice. Black people are beautiful, what do you want me to say? Black is ever so beautiful. But…that’s the way Marvel wants it to look. Like anything the media flashes in your face. Recently, I was asked about my thoughts on the upcoming movie. It was pointless to have this conversation with a passive, sleep-walking through life kind of person but I answered the…

Sooo…I’m an author. And I kinda got myself an editor. I am actually too poor to pay her but she’s working with me. We have a friendship that developed after we signed our editing contract and before I started actually paying her. But I wonder if that’s getting in the way. Of one thing or the other. Because of my financial situation and her interest in my work, our contract is very relaxed. We are…

Oh Teal’c

As a kid, I loved Stargate SG-1. I rewatch it every now and again. Like right now. Even with it’s passable points, it’s totally racist and colonialist. Because anything that doesn’t gel with the white man’s sense of rationality, scientific imperialism, and civilization is chalked up to megalomaniacal, parasitic aliens posing as Egyptian gods and other mythological figures. Yet I still love the…

the white elephant in the room

Let’s Talk About White Privilege is a six-week series running here in Fresno, every Wednesday evening. Title speaks for itself. I have attended the first three meetings. This Wednesday, however, I did not ride the bus nearly an hour to the meeting spot. I did not smile and sit at a table full of white people and listen to them talk I gave up. I am tired of listening to white people’s astounding…

‘Life’ film–defied absolutely zero scifi tropes

Everything that can go wrong in a space movie about life from Mars or other planets did go wrong in Life. The producers and writers didn’t defy any tropes with this one. Life is truly true to its Hollywood film type/genre. Not to say that there is no hostile life the universe. Only that why does every life form that potentially exists in the universe other than human life have to be portrayed as…

Recently, I started a private Instagram account that is solely for following Black businesses, news outlets, artists and writers. That’s @Taviante, though I’m not really looking for followers nor am I trying to be concerned with anything other than watching the feed of the Black businesses and artists I follow. I came across WeBuyBlack.com through a white woman, believe it or not. We Buy Black…

That One, Rare Person

When that one seen you and they walk right up to you. You have all these assumptions about what “all” people are like. And they’re like “Don’t tell me what I think. What’s up?” And they’re not being arrogant, not really. They are challenging the prospective that you have that they, specifically, are like everybody else. The prospective that they are like all the people who have let you down and…

The Nobility of Wonder Woman

Watched the DC Wonder Woman movie, starring Gal Gadot. I gotta say, I was something very much like pleasantly surprised. Her theme music is on point, with Hans Zimmer involved. What I appreciated most was the handling of Diana’s personality. But first– These are the major issues I had with the film: That love interest guy, Steve Trevor (played by Chris Pine), isn’t necessary. As a guy like him…

Dads That Suck: Me and Peter Quill

**SPOILERS** Since I talked about absent male parents on my other blog, I guess I’ll keep it coming. For my birthday, I went to the movies for the first time in years and I saw Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Just like an increasing number of Marvel movies these days, the writers really need to adjust some of their humor. But what I found myself struck by was the relationship between Peter Quill and…

Late birthday post. Happy Birthday to Me! Even with people trying to screw it up, I manged to make my day as decent as I could. The fact that Father’s Day is around my birthday is ironic: Because I don’t have one. I don’t have a father. Never, not ever, has a male figure in my life who was worth saying, “Happy Father’s Day” to. And not for a lack of wanting one either. What I have a sperm donor.…

‘Deadpool’, thoughts

Thanks to watching Deadpool, I now have “Careless Whisper” by WHAM! stuck in my head. Smh, I think its the lyrics and jazz/saxophone in it. The soundtrack also has DMX “X Gon Give It To Ya” and Salt n Pepa “Shoop”. Because they want to dust off Black folks’ stuff so they can look cool and act like its new. Naturally, there’s some so-called humor in the movie that I didn’t appreciate. Couldn’t…

At work, I was talking to co-workers about what kind of books I write and like to read. One of these co-workers was an older white man, we’ll call him Tim. I said the words, I like writing and reading about Black women characters and characters of Color in fantasy fiction and romance. There is a real deficit of those kinds of characters in the media because people don’t see us in the those genres…

Black Women Characters–some things change a little, some things stay A LOT the same

Where before there were none, the media landscape is now littered with very targeted, very selective images of Black people and of Color peoples/characters. OR people who are very racially ambiguous. So things seem to change…only to actually stay the same. I think about this… Every time I read a book where the only Black woman you see is one who is light-skin or obviously mixed. If there are any…

Watched Recently–quick rundown

I started reading books again, mostly romance. Mostly disappointments. Luckily, I’m not paying for most of them. Watched a lot of movies, some of which might not be listed. Any of this will be revisted for further details in the future. Thinking of getting an account at The Artifice to write about things I watch and meander over. Anime: Dimension W— Liked this one quite a bit. Dantalian no Shoka…

I’m a number again. A different number this year but still a number. I am not a machine. I am a person. Unfortunately, I live in a country where people seem to need money so I have to work. Hopefully, something will come out of this. And not just endless amounts of frustration, anxiety, and empty pockets. This time around, I do feel like I’m handling things better. And I feel more confident. So…