Epic Rap Battles of Birth/rebirth

Well before I fully comprehended the media juggernaut that YouTube would end up being, there was a little thing I loved called Epic Rap Battles of History.

I'm a big fan of humour - things like this, Weird Al, Literal Videos, The Key of Awesome... they really get me through when I'm feeling low.

Or Key of Awesome guest starring in ERB....

Or Weird Al featuring on ERB...

They were particularly helpful to me when I was going through a really bad time filled with stress and anxiety. I'd never been confident with public speaking, but about a year and a half ago, I developed a random stutter, and sometimes when I spoke, it was barely intelligible or it was but I was speaking faster than Eminem on Rap God. For the life of me, I could not slow down because if I did, I'd start to stutter. It made my life hard, and embarrassing. Believe me, I certainly didn't need more help with that!

So, I made a CD for my car, updated my Ipod, played my way through multiple YouTube playlists of ERB at home - initially to make myself feel better and because I liked them so much. I found that eventually, I could sing along to these without screwing up and I slowly gained more confidence.

Sure - it wasn't the only factor. But it was a big help in getting me to where I am today - someone who can go on a massive rant and be understood the entire time, even if my rantee tunes out.

That and they're just awesome. A lot of Youtubers will just upload crap every day for the views they need. ERB put things up but only when they're satisfied it's good.

I've personally thought rap music would be better if they got rid of the rappers. Everyone complains about pop singers always being about love and things like that but rappers? With a few exceptions, they are the worst offenders for being racist, sexist, promoting crimes and the new thing.. mumble rapping, rhymes that don't rhyme and brag rapping. Like.. is there nothing else you can talk about?

In three minutes or less - ERB produces a great beat, has lyrics that they've actually thought about and researched (plus they rhyme), costumes and sets that are carefully prepared, excellent guest stars and they always surprise you.
So why does actual rap suck so much compared to this?

Halloween Hullabaloo

Well it's almost Halloween - which we don't really celebrate here in Australia but it's safe to say we can all appreciate a good costume. And why should Americans have all the fun? Who doesn't like dressing up?

Exactly. 

Frankly, a nice healthy scare is good for you. Hell, typing this right now I'm kinda scared. My birds were going nuts in their aviary and when I went out to investigate I heard a weird noise, like a possessed goose. I couldn't see one though but it's been about an hour and a half since it began and I can hear this weird bird monster moving locations - perhaps walking down our street in order to get a head start on the year's spookiest holiday.

Personally, I think the fact that stores are releasing Christmas decorations *BEFORE* Halloween is scarier than most trick or treaters but hey, whattaya gonna do?

Also the influx of meme costumes and 'sexy' costumes... which I suspect may mostly be made up of the exact same dress just painted different and sold for a high dollar figure.

If you venture onto any social media platform you're bound to find a million re-posts of excellent outfits.

Like these amazing Archer and Ratatouille outfits.























Or how about Hank Scorpio's classic 'I didn't give you my jacket' moment immortalised in time.

Sticking with the Matt Groening's theme we also have Scruffy. The Janitor. And his bucket.







Or for a more recent pop culture outfit, here's Rey from Star Wars along with her trusty sidekick BBaGoodDog.

So, here's my favourites (from what I've seen this year - may not actually be from this year)

The Big Bang Babies

So I'm on vacation and due to the weather being shite, hubby and I were idling on the couch watching whatever was in and not depressing. All the interesting shows about food were making us hungry so we flipped channels a bit, mostly weird tween shows or renovations and the only exception was The Big Bang Theory.

Now full disclosure, I have always been sceptical of this show ever deserving its immense popularity but have watched the first twenty episodes of season one and found that despite some definite flaws it wasn't that bad.

The episode that came on was the follow up of Sheldon's proposal to Amy... I don't even know what season that is so I had a limited idea of what was going on I mean whaaaaat Leonard and Penny got married? Anyway, spoilers and stuff if you care.

(Edit: it's Season 11 episode 1 - aired Sept 25 2017)

Bernadette is told about the impending nuptials but has news of her own... She's taken a pregnancy test and it is positive. She's freaking out about it as Howard and herself had been careful as they didn't want this. She confides in Penny who encourages her to see it as the miracle it is as she herself was a surprise child.

When Bernadette finally tells Howard he has a bit of a hysterical moment because they already have one child and he decides they're not mature enough to have another one. Bernadette seems to be convinced that she wants the child but is still unsure.

During some social time together, Leonard and Penny are happy and supportive of the other couple, telling them they're great parents already and if they need anything to let them know.

Well, Bernadette has an idea about that. She suggests that Penny also conceive so they can be preggo together.

Marvellous Mummy Mortisha

When people think about what kind of mother/parent they want to be, I'm pretty sure that they immediately think of their own parents and whether or not they did good a good enough job to be emulated. Besides that though, the media has a definite say in who we idolise or what we should aim to be like through stereotypes, subversion and certain imprinted tropes.

 There are plenty of what I personally would consider bad parenting examples in the media at the moment - the Kartrashians, Yummy Mummys, and well... basically any reality show scripted or unscripted that simply thrives on 'drama' and financial status or awkward situations. Hell, I once watched a show about different mothers giving birth and it was so painful I felt like I was going through it myself. This was when we had a Foxtel free trial. Lots of channels.. lots of.. weird.. shows.

In ordinary programmed television shows they more often than not pigeon hole mothers into a behind the scenes sort of role, usually in the home and being more of a support role to her family. Nothing wrong with that but thankfully these days it's a lot more diverse with different family types and more working mothers, single mothers etc.

The one mother I want to talk about today began life as part of a sort of anti-nuclear family newspaper cartoon that exploded into a successful television series, several movies, a cartoon series, multiple Super Nintendo/Gameboy games, a Pinball machine, figurines and dolls, various books and most recently a musical.

Served up Yummy Mummys.... But have we had enough?

My mother told me about a reality show called Yummy Mummys, with a foot note that it's probably just going to be for laughs. Holy hell, it's something but I'm not sure if I can even make it through this first episode!

I'm not really a fan of reality television because let's face it, it's lazy, it's all staged, it reminds me that the Kartrashians still exist... You know, that kind of thing. My idea of a good reality show is Drawn Together. 

Anyway, this show is centred around three mums to be from Melbourne and one clique invader from Adelaide. 

Jane - a model - seems to be a quieter person than the rest, she's already a mother and seems to have the best dress sense.

Lorinska is a primary school teacher who doesn't seem to understand motherhood, she's afraid of breastfeeding due to a unfortunate incident when she was a kid but also thinks she'll just pop back into her pre-pregnancy size immediately. She does have some classic reaction faces though.

Rachel is my favourite so far, she's a state retail manager but is a bit more down to earth and has a sense of humour about it all. She kinda reminds me of a shorter version of Sarah Jessica Parker.

Over in Adelaide though we have a horrible caricature of a rich useless brat. This is Maria who feels that every mother should have a giant powder room, matching outfits for her, her man, baby and dog, and has apparently stock piled for a baby apocalypse judging by the amount of baby shoes and things she's hoarding. She's a self confessed label slave and monograms all of her designer bags to make sure everybody knows. 

Am I being too harsh on Maria? Nope. 

Gender Studies of Inanimate Objects

So today I wanted to chat about something that that happened recently and what  kinda peeved me off. I know, a long list but it's something that's always bothered me.

I used to work in a fast food joint when I was much younger and it was always a pain to have people ask 'what's the girl's/boy's toy' when it came to ordering food for their kiddies.

Maybe it's just me, but I would have assumed the nutritional content would be more important than structuring your child's preference around their gender. When I became the manager, I was always telling the cashiers to ask if the customers wanted for example: the Bratz toy or the Hot Wheels toy.

I mean, it just makes more sense. That's generally the next question anyway - what is the boy's toy? What's the girl's toy?

Why not hit two birds with one stone by coming out and saying what it is brand wise, so the kids can choose what they want instead of what they think they're meant to have?

All this was many moons ago, lost in the winds of time much like my innocence and care factor.
Surely in 2017 we're leap years ahead of this, right?

Right?








Um, no. My husband and I were peckish before going into a movie the other day and were short on time, so we went to Macca's and got a happy meal each (because I could smuggle them in my handbag...oh so naughty) and the teenage cashier asked us if we wanted a boy or a girl toy.