Going up! This shot is from a festival in Thailand, where they release paper lanterns into the night air by the hundreds. Pretty cool, eh? I'm a big fan of hot air m'self... I spout enough of it here in this blog (and here in my office as well... brb, gotta crack a window...). You don't want a flame near my hot air however...
OK, so today is "K Day", and I have a couple "favorite" items to reference (as has been my custom this month)... but I have an observation to make first, which has given me pause...
I mentioned back in week one that it seemed odd that most of the items/people I've featured have been male, with hardly any female favorites... I took a good, close look at my master Favorites list and it's worse than I thought....
Here, look at the stats...
Favorite Actors/Actresses: 16 total, 14 male, 2 female (Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn)
Favorite Movie Performances: 13 total, 12 male, 1 female (Kristen Wiig)
People I'd Like To Meet: 29 total, 28 male, 1 cat, no females
Favorite Bands/Singers: 15 total, 14 male, 1 female
Favorite Songs: 63 total, 55 male, 8 female
Favorite Books: 19 total, 19 written by men, 0 written by women
Favorite Authors: 7 total, 6 male, 1 unknown (KJ Parker, gender undisclosed)
Favorite Book Characters: 21 total, 21 male, 0 female
Favorite Movie Characters: 28 total, 26 male, 2 female (Lady Cathrine de Burgh and Paikea from Whalerider)
Favorite TV Characters: 6 total, 6 male, 0 female
Favorite Comics: 6 total, 6 drawn by men, 0 drawn by women
Now that surprised me. I assembled the lists initially over the course of a week, mostly by plumbing the depths of this addled brain of mine, then by perusing my DVD collection, checking the ratings of films I've ranked as 4 and 5 stars on Netflix, scrolling through my iPod (for the music), and even consulting articles online of the Greatest Performances/Movies, etc of all time, in case some eluded my own memory... but mostly just mentally exploring my best memories associated with each category.
I'm not sure what that means. That I'm sexist? That I'm "in the closet" and like dudes (impossible, by the way, lol)? That I feel women are vastly inferior entertainers? That I'm subconsciously afraid of promoting female performers, out of fear that a certain someone I happen to be married to will misinterpret admiration for desire, and punish me for it? Honestly, I don't know what it means... especially since I could honestly assemble a List of My Favorite People (as far as who I know in real life) and I think 8 out of the 10 on the list would be female (hi mom!), with only one or two men, if that. Possibly a clean sweep...
Not sure what to think of it all. I'd ask you each to think about your "favorites" and analyze the results, but now those results would be tainted, since you'd be aware of the gender issue going in. If I'd thought of it from the get-go, I might have consciously sought out more females... but then would the list have been an honest list? Still, any theories? I'm all ears. Well, I'm mostly ears, and some nose. OK, fine, I'm mostly nose...
And now, "K Day"....
People I'd Like to Meet (K):
Here's another recent piece of his...
Just amazing. I've posted some of his stuff on this blog before. I just love it to death.
[Dave keels over, leaving the K Day post unfinished...]
OK, I'm back to life again... I didn't really die, I just passed out for a minute. Speaking of "passed out", let me crack the window open a bit wider... phew!
Favorite Songs (K):
Favorite Book Characters (K):
Kvothe from "The Name of the Wind" by Pat Rothfuss (2009): This one is a no-brainer. Kvothe is the featured character in Pat Rothfuss' wonderful Kingkiller Chronicles, starting with one of my favorite books ever, The Name of the Wind. A man of many incredible talents: a magician, a musician, an adventurer, a student, a renegade, a legend, without peer. The pic is nice, but really, according to the book, Kvothe's hair is really red... like fire-engine red... awkward, but hey, Pat knows what he's doing, so I'll go with it... Jury is still out on how much I like/liked the second book in the series, Wise Man's Fear... I need to read it again to nail it down.
Kelsier from "The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson (2007): Another no-brainer for me - so much so, I could never relegate Kelsier to the status of Honorable Mention. Not much available, as far as fan art to steal and post here (lol), but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Vin is on the cover of the book, but fellow mistborn Kelsier is her mentor, and is waging a personal war against the Lord Ruler in Brandon Sanderson's incredible Mistborn Trilogy. What's a "mistborn", you ask? Why, it's a person who is skilled at all of the allomantic arts, silly! Still confused? Well, you're just going to have to read the series and find out. In fact, I'm going to have to re-read them as well... wow, 2012 may turn into my year to re-read all my old faves! I'm about 25% into my re-read of Before They Are Hanged (Abercrombie).
Anyway, that's it for "K Day"... what that should tide you over until an epic "L Day" on Friday the 13th... MUAHAHAHA!!!
Adios for now,
Dave the Knucklehead
PS Let me know your thoughts on the gender thing, and also some of your own faves, and how your list might compare.
3 comments:
Your problem is largely due to genre/publisher favorites. Certain genres, like epic fantasy, have more male authors than female. Others, like urban fantasy or paranormal fic, those have more female. Sticking to one genre (especially a niche) will definitely skew your metrics. I've been keeping up with my F/M ratios for the last few years (see my end of the year post if you wanna know the numbers) and have been surprised. Even more, I'd love to be able to throw in cultural diversity from my authors, too, instead of reading mostly American/British authors. It's good that you are aware of your bias, and it gives you an idea of how to compensate it, but that's all optional. As for favorite male characters, I'd just say that they're easier for you to relate to, which has more of an impact on you, which is why they're your favorites.
Y'know, as much as you like Abercrombie, I like Rothfuss. I'm currently in the middle of Wise Man's Fear for the 3rd time, and that book just blows me away. The writing. The stories. The world. The characters. It's brilliant. Does it have faults? Yes, but they are minimal. Such a great series.
Possibly, as far as the books go... I've certainly tried a large number of samples of female authors, as far as in the fantasy genre... but none of them really jumped out and hooked me. I made it through the Hundred-Thousand Kingdoms well enough, but honestly, I barely remember it at this point, and I can't recall any of the names of the characters... I remember it being good, though... but that hardly makes it a candidate for Fave status...
But with music and film-related categories, plus People I'd Like To Meet... what gives there? I mean, there've been as many Best Actress Awards/Nominations for females as there have been for men... I don't get it...
Ah, well, maybe it's just one of the mysteries of life...
Dave
PS I had to add a (2) to the post title... I've been sifting the archives, looking for the posts that I wrote book reviews in, and saw that I used the same quote from Andy Kaufman back in July of 2010! I'm lame!
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