“South Africa didn’t actually do too badly in the report – when compared to other countries, at least. But the state of women’s employment in high tech fields is shocking. Although 45% of students enrolled in science and engineering courses are female, only 16% of those working in related jobs are not men.”
How hard is it to be a female human being in the media? Anne Hathaway is a pretty good measure. She learned everything she could about sex trafficking and prostitution to play Fantine, and knew only too well that modern-day Fantines were probably living within blocks of the Academy Awards. As she said in her acceptance speech, ‘Here’s hoping that someday in the not too distant future the misfortunes of Fantine will only be found in stories and never in real life.’
Did that get coverage? No. Instead, the huge and expensive media beast speculated on her nipples. In a way, that makes Anne’s point. No wonder there are still Fantines, so many in the media think like pimps, traffickers and johns.
“
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Weird giant arthropod silt-strider type thing I’ve been slowly working on. Began life as a tiny doodle on a scrap of paper in the first week of university. Later I traced it onto the computer, gave it a bit of shading, then left it for ages. Came back to it the other day and let rip with the brush. Quite pleased with the result. Next step: detail.
Listen to People Without Mouths by datassette.
It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
“
Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
I rewatched The Fellowship of the Ring last night, leaving myself in a state of total emotional wreckage. I felt like I didn’t know what to do with my life. I realised that I am going to take this beautiful film with me all the way to my grave.
