Something to write to.

You might have picked up that I'm currently trying (with trying being the operative word) to write my PhD thesis. Writing up what you've done and trying to justify it can be agony. I'm currently looking back at some of the work I'm putting in my thesis and thinking "Why, oh, why did I do that?!" I'm also enjoying writing an introduction full of 'common knowledge' which is so common it's really hard to reference properly. Yeah, I'm having all the fun.

Due to my general lack of fondness for this writing thing, I really need motivation to keep going I manage to start typing. One of my favourite things to help me get into a writing groove is music. I find it really hard to think and write without some noise going around me and the kind of noise that helps me tune into writing the most is music. So, here's a sample of what you can find on my writing playlist,

Anything from the Doctor Who Soundtracks

My collection of Doctor Who soundtracks is one of the first things I turn to when wanting to focus in and get something done. I don't know what it is about those soundtracks in particular which really help me get into a productive groove, but they do. Maybe it's because it helps me trick my brain into thinking that I'm doing something I really enjoy rather than writing. Or maybe it's because it makes doing science feel that little bit more epic.

Something in Japanese.

J-pop is one of my really not guilty-about-it guilty pleasures. How can you not love it when almost every pop song has a shredding guitar solo in it! What makes it a top pick of mine to write to is that I don't understand the lyrics so instead of singing along in my head I can just let it wash over me and keep writing. My favourite Japanese song at the moment is "Gurren No Yumia" by Linked Horizon, made famous as the main theme from the titanic (haha!) Attack on Titan. Where else would you get a crazy awesome fusion of rock and classical music with an organ solo thrown in for good measure? For something a little bit more conventional I might turn to Magia by Kalifina or Hacking to the Gate by Itou Kanoko.

 

Something From a Musical

There are times when working I need something I can sing along to in my head and, as I'm a musical junkie, something from a musical will always perk me up and make me a happy writing camper. My favourite tracks at the moment are "Nobody's Side" and "Where I Want to Be" from Chess. Actually, just all of Chess with Benny and Bjorn's amazing music and Tim Rice's beautiful lyrics.

Florence and the Machine

Florence and the Machine are amazing. At times when I need something to metaphorically grove to while I work they are one of my most popular choices. At the moment I can't get enough of "What Kind of Man" and I'm counting down to 1st June so I can get my hands on the new album.

An Awesome Parody Song

I often need a motivational boost when writing and for some strange reason one of the best things I can do to get myself back in the zone is to listen to a parody song. Honestly, I have no idea why, but it works for me! My current go to track is "Diggy Diggy Hole" by Yogscast. But Not Literally's Game of Thrones parody Some Character I Used to Know and cover of I Don't Care are also high up on my list.

This is for girls, that's for boys and never the twain shall meet.

This week I'm getting narked off about the whole for girls and for boys messages we seem to insist upon. It's everywhere, from the toys we buy children, to the activities we get kids involved in to the subjects we encourage them to do in later life. When will we stop? From such an early age we bombard children with messages that girls and boys like separate things and do separate things, it's improving but with books like "The Big Brilliant Colouring Book for Boys" and the "The Big Beautiful Colouring Book for Girls" out there and the march of gendered Lego kits, things haven't changed enough. 

So what's got this particular bee lodged in my bonnet this week? Firstly, its that Marvel have excluded Black Widow from sets in the Avengers: Age of Ultron toy line and from many other items of merchandise. Clearly, Marvel have dropped the ball here. You can't really say you're selling a set of the Avengers toys if one of the Avenger's isn't in it. It makes me wonder how they're going to merchandise Captain Marvel if they have so much trouble putting together items which have 1 woman and 6 men on it. As it stands Marvel and Disney haven't made a statement on their design choices, but why might they be so quick to exclude Black Widow from merchandise? The main answer that comes to mind is gendering of products. Girls don't like superheros, boys don't want 'girl things' therefore, lets not include Black Widow. There have been various anonymous tips suggesting that Disney think they got the female market covered with the princess line and that buying Marvel was specifically to get them a similar dominance in the male market. Erm, hello Disney, girls don't want, and shouldn't just have, princesses marketed to them. I'd say even more so given what the vast majority of their princesses say about what women should be. There are now direct appeals coming from Mark Ruffalo and Clark Gregg (the actors behind Bruce Banner and Agent Coulson) that Marvel and Disney really need to fix this problem. Will this help? Who knows, Disney are still defiantly quiet on the matter and it's likely they will continue to be, as this problem was also present in Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise where Gamora was excluded from a lot of items. Why didn't they learn from this? Especially when it's well known that women and girls are consuming Marvel media? 44% of people seeing Guardians in it's first week were female, so surely that's something you want to tap into.

Next, there's DC launching a re-branded set of female superheroes aimed at girls which will include a toy line and TV broadcasts. So this is a win, right? Someone is acknowledging that girls like superheroes too and are focusing on a female audience. That's fantastic! However, the thing that bugs me is how all the heroes (and villains) have been Disney Princessed up. When I first saw the production art I though they were just using one of the many fun pieces of Disney Princesses as Superheroes fan art. But they aren't. We get a set girls with of almost identical faces and teeny weeny waists yet again. Um... Why? Superheroes are idealised, I get this, but they can't they at least have different faces? Also, why just one show with an ensemble? We have superman and batman with their own TV lines in the DC world. Can't Wonder Woman and her compatriots stand on their own too? I'm also a bit bothered by the whole gendering of the show. I do asking myself why does it have to be just for girls and not for everyone. However, with the strong gendering of most superhero material to boys, maybe we need this one to start bringing in some balance?

I suppose all that we can do is hope that Marvel and Disney take a long hard look at what they're doing. I really hope Disney learn some lessons fast, otherwise I think we may be having this same problem again when Star Wars comes out. I also have my fingers crossed DC don't make a mess of their idea and that they don't go too far in girly-ing up the series.