Mouse Smash

JC Lau's blog about geekery, gender and other rants

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Officially Licensed Dancing Baby Groot will be Available for Christmas

Screencap from Mashable.

Screencap from Mashable.

It’s about time this happened.

One of the most memorable scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy is the coda, where an adorable baby version of Groot dances along to the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”.

It didn’t take long for people to start selling homemade versions of Baby Groot (or provide instructions for how to make your own), but Marvel Entertainment and KIDdesigns have announced that an officially licensed version will be available later this year, just in time to sprout under your Christmas tree.

Mashable reports that the Baby Groot will set you back $14.99 and also has a built-in speaker to play (of course) “I Want You Back”.

There’s also a Funko bobblehead version of Groot, so you can stick him on your dashboard and he can dance along to your Awesome Mix Vol. 1.


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Social Justice Class Pins available this weekend at GeekGirlCon

Social justice pins

One thing I still don’t understand about the whole Gamergate/gaming and gender debacle is why “Social Justice Warrior” was seen to be an offensive term. I mean, surely valuing diversity, promoting human rights and equality, and working to eliminate oppression and discrimination are good things, right? (Outside the context of the gaming community–for example, if we were working to eliminate racism or promote education for women–that seems to be a no-brainer.)

But, as The Mary Sue suggests, the problem isn’t that it’s offensive because it’s about social justice. It’s offensive because not all of us play warriors! It’s unfair and inappropriate to tar everyone with the same brush, as it were. But have no fear, Sarah “Chip” Nixon, aka @Chiparoo, has a solution for that. Look at that amazing set of buttons!

The buttons will be available for $2 each, or $10 for the whole set, at Seattle’s GeekGirlCon this weekend.

And if that wasn’t awesome enough, all proceeds from the sales will go to Planned Parenthood, so you can get your social justice on while also supporting an organization that promotes women’s rights and autonomy.

Can’t make it to GeekGirlCon? Nixon’s working to make these available for purchase online. However, she notes that she’s not planning to profit from them, so Kickstarter won’t be suitable.

Update: here are some of the ACTUAL BUTTONS that will be at GGC!

Via @Chiparoo

Update (Saturday): as of 2:14pm Nixon had sold out of sets of buttons. Apparently the most popular class was social justice wizard! However, never fear, she will be back tomorrow with more.

chiparoo

Nixon with what’s left of her buttons on Saturday


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There’s bloodsucking and then there’s just… sucking: Review of Dracula Untold (2014)

Director: Gary Shore

Cast: Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon

Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy

Now with more bats than Batman

Now with more bats than Batman

Dracula Untold is a tale that should have stayed, well, untold.

The film, based on the life of the real Vlad the Impaler, is set in the 1460s, where Prince Vlad (Luke Evans) returns home from his impaling days to his wife and children, only to be ordered to provide 1,000 Transylvanian boys to serve in the Ottoman Army. Alas, Vlad doesn’t have an army to defend his kingdom. What to do? The obvious choice is, apparently, to wager with a creepy cave-dwelling vampire (who turns out to be Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones) to gain his powers.

Unfortunately, Dracula Untold is confused about what kind of film it wants to be. On one level, it’s an awkward love story about Vlad as a family man. It’s also a war movie, although some of the imagery and cheap jump scares suggest that it might be attempting to be a horror film too. It’s also a tragic biopic : we know that despite Vlad’s best intentions, things aren’t going to work well for him. Oh, and there’s also a helpful etymology lesson on the origins of the word “Dracula” thrown in for good measure.

As a result, the film’s writing is laughably hokey, especially on the frequent occasions when it takes itself too seriously. Vlad’s not portrayed as a monster, but anything else with pointy canines is a threat that must be destroyed right away. Vampire clichés abound: they hiss at crucifixes, get flayed by the sun, and die on stakes (well, he is the Impaler), although are no cloves of garlic to be seen. The special effect with a swarm of CG bats is considerably impressive, but film logic means that those bats easily take out a full army in platemail without so much as anyone getting hantavirus.

Not surprisingly—and despite its attempts to depict Vlad’s family—the film is also extremely testosterone-driven: there’s only one instance in the entire 92-minute cheesefest of two women talking to each other, and even then it barely scrapes by on some variants of the Bechdel test (they’re talking about Vlad’s son). Still, the film limps along, cobbled together in Frankensteinish fashion, when it really should just be laid to rest.

Dracula Untold opens on October 10 in US cinemas.