Carly, Jazz, and Caitlyn

I am officially home from Panama City and we had a great time. It was a full house but it was fun. In addition to that, my daughter, husband, and myself also moved. I now feel a lot more at ease and refreshed. A lot of stress has been lifted and I feel able to get back to this blog now and I am excited about it, so I guess I am just going to jump right in! That being said in order to not over exert myself I'm not going to be doing a schedule anymore, posts will go up when I am able.

I really want to talk about all these transgender docu-series popping up on television. When Bruce Jenner had an interview with Diane Sawyer talking about the transition into the nameless woman that he knew he really was who he referred to simply as "Her", everyone stopped paying attention to other celebrity news and in some cases non-entertainment news, to hear about every step of the transition. Some were accepting and supportive while others were hateful and closed minded. Regardless, that's all we could talk about. Since then, we have seen the rise of several doc-series about trans lifestyle.

The first to air was Becoming Us, a show produced by Ryan Seacrest that hit ABC Family June 8th. It's a show told through the eyes of a teenage boy named Ben living in Illinois as his father transitions into a woman named Carly. Interestingly enough, Ben's girlfriend Danielle's father is also transitioning.

Next will be airing this Wednesday on TLC and I am very excited about it. It's called I Am Jazz and it is about a 14 year old girl, Jazz Jennings. Jazz is a transgender teen who is a YouTuber, an LGBT+ activist, has written a children's book based on her real experiences to help explain the trans community to kids, and is of course trans herself. The show will focus on this strong young woman and her family.

Ironically enough the last to air on this list of shows is the one that truthfully started the whole thing. I Am Cait will air on the E! network July 26th following Caitlyn Jenner as she transitions and becomes her true self.

There are people who are seeing all these shows airing and thinking it's getting excessive and out of hand. There are people who think these networks are just trying to capitalize on a growing trend. And as for the networks intentions, you may be right. I do not work for E!, ABC Family, or TLC so I can't tell you honestly what their thoughts are on the topic or why they chose to take on these shows. But I can say, whether it's for money, for education, for whatever, it doesn't matter. What matters is every single one of these three shows is absolutely necessary.

Inactivity

I am sorry that I have been slacking the past couple days on this blog. Sunday was Father's Day, Monday I was packing for vacation, and right now I am just burnt out. I was in the middle of making a post about how majority America such as straight people, white people, cis people, and men are completely oblivious to a lot of minority issues, and I just found myself rolling my eyes. I was trying to be polite and level headed explaining how people say that LGBT people already have representation and whatnot and while I was in the process of explaining how wrong that is my tone changed. Mid sentence I found myself going from an informative explanation to suddenly talking about how ignorant and homophobic these remarks are and how fed up I am with hearing them. The level of awareness that I have developed for the people around me has become infuriating. I am stressed out about all these things around my house that I can't sit down and be logical when talking about these racist, sexist, homophobic people who I often address with these posts. Society has me exhausted and drained. So I need to get through my summer holiday with at least some degree of sanity. I will be back after that. Sometime early to mid July I will be back to posting regularly. Deeply sorry, I am simply busy and people are awful. 

E3 2015; Square Enix

Square Enix also spoke on the Final Fantasy VII remake as well as Tomb Raider that we discussed in the Sony overview, but because of that I won't touch on it again. There is plenty more to speak on from Square Enix who put most of their focus on old favorites making their appearance once again. Square Enix did not follow the trends of the year. They weren't as elusive and private as other developers, giving us a lot more to work with in regards to plots and what exactly we had to look forward to. Alternatively they also did not make the switch to a main female playable option, but due to the nature of some of these classics that would have been lot to expect. Regardless of that fact the games will be excellent. 

The Big News

Kingdom Hearts 3
Let me just go ahead and take the fall here but I actually love these games. I love Final Fantasy and I love Disney so how could I not? My husband makes fun of me for it but whatever, I like it.

We follow our familiar hero through the disney universes that we know from the earlier games as well as new worlds such as that of the movie Tangled. There are also new abilities such as transformation of the key blade to things like dual pistols or a double bladed sword. The game is part of the main series and will have both Sora and Roxas and their accompanying characters. The game seems to take place immediately after Kingdom Hearts 3D, and in regards to the story, I actually have direct quotes for you from the Square Enix conference. The following is taken from IGN's notes.

"Believing light and darkness must remain in balance, Master Xehanort seeks to spark war against the ‘tyranny of light’ to restore equilibrium. In an effort to undermine Xehanort’s plot, Sora, Donald and Goofy search for seven guardians of light and the “Key to Return Hearts,” while King Mickey and Riku search for previous Keyblade wielders. The game's director, Tetsuya Nomura, said the following in an interview with Famitsu: 'We're proceeding along with which worlds we'll be selecting for the game,' he said. 'It's the final episode in the 'Dark Seeker' saga that began with the original Kingdom Hearts, and it'll depict the final battle with Xehanort.'"

Hitman
December 8, 2015 get ready for what could be the greatest installment to this compelling series yet. This time you will have much more control of your job as it seems that to an extent the player will have the ability to pick and choose targets as well as take many different routes to kill your target without putting yourself in a position that will force a harsh penalty on you as opposed to past games that had a right way and a few wrong ways. However act quickly as certain targets will only be available for a set time duration. And while this is one theme that Square Enix did follow up on, Bethesda gave us an interactive real life Pip-Boy, Ubisoft gave us an interactive environment, and for a hint of realism Square Enix is now making the disguises not as cut and dry. You can't fool everyone so you have to choose carefully how you disguise yourself and who sees you in that disguise. Our artificial intelligence are beginning to show intelligence people.

In Other News

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
The year is 2029, the Human Revolution has been over for  2 years and the mechanically augmented are now looked on as terrorists and are cast aside. Adam Jensen is now investigating and preventing terrorist attacks with Task Force 29.

World of Final Fantasy
I don't know a lot about this one beyond the fact that these teeny tiny chibi characters will be wandering around and engaging in the always frustration turn by turn battle system.

I'm For Me

We've all heard it ladies, men's often times harsh and unnecessary opinions of what we wear. I've heard that wearing too much makeup is lying to men, I've heard so many unwanted opinions from men about my hair, my clothes, or my makeup I could scream. It has happened all through school and even now. I get all dressed and ready to go to school or go out wherever I am headed and ether once I get where I'm going or often times before I even make it out the door, I start hearing about it. There is something wrong somewhere. "You messed up your hair," when it's purposefully disheveled. "Why is that shaped that way?" If something is asymmetrical. "That doesn't match," if I wear anything other than denim and a plain shirt or a black or white shirt with whatever pants. "You're just going to school/the mall/a cookout/whatever casual situation, isn't that a bit much?" In regards to anything with personality at all, even as small as a piece of jewelry or accessory. And I know we have all seen those really stupid articles about trends that men hate, like we care.

Now, imagine with me a world in which women dress for themselves. In which when we get ourselves done up, we do it so we feel confident and powerful. A world where confidence is our best trait and we want to wear it everywhere so we make ourselves look the way we think makes us attractive. What if a woman wanted someone in her life who accepted her as she is and thought she was most beautiful when she was happy and feeling good about herself? Can you picture it? I hope so, because that is reality my friend

I do my hair and makeup and change my outfit three times in the morning whether I am going to see my husband at all that day or not, so therefore I'm not dressing for him. I am married, so I'm not dressing for anyone else. I am dressing for me. I love feeling confident. I love when I can go out and be myself. I sing, I dance, I talk a lot, I'm loud, I love myself and I am a strong and outgoing woman. Or at least, I am when I feel good about myself. So when I get ready, I make myself feel awesome so I can be myself authentically. So what kick do you get out of making me feel bad? What sick thrill is that for you? Additionally, guys, I just took forever to get ready and you are waiting on me so we can go, right? Okay I'm done, time to go, finally! But, I'm wearing a peplum and you think that looks like maternity wear, and you think you need to tell me that before we leave. Well congratulations now I feel insecure in my favorite outfit and I need to change now because wherever we go I am going to feel eyes on me when their aren't any and I'm not going to be fabulous. So now I need to change and I hope you have a book to read because you're going to be waiting another thirty minutes while I get changed.

Once more let me say this, unless I ask you what you think of my outfit, I literally was not looking for your approval. Guys, not everything a woman does revolves around you. You're not this supreme ultimate force. I don't care if you like it or not I just want to feel good, so let me. This has been a very important PSA.

E3 2015; Nintendo

Star Fox, The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Super Mario/Mario Kart, and so many more. I am a long time Nintendo fan since my very first bright pink gameboy color. I am a loyal Nintendo fan and for my 21st birthday my husband bought me the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker edition of the Wii U. This year at E3 we have some updates about some more classics that make us love this company so much as they move forward. To me, it's all big news, so here is what we know.

Star Fox Zero
This holiday the Wii U will be ready for Star Fox zero, a unique experience that takes from the original as well as bringing entirely new aspects to the table. The concern is currently with the single player campaign but multiplayer capabilities will be explored. 

Metroid Prime: Federation Force
Co-op with three of your friends in the Metroid Prime universe next year, or just play blast ball because everybody needs some fun and a little break.

The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes
This game allows up to three 3DS players (my husband, little sister, and myself are planning on getting this one) to play together to get through puzzling dungeons and defeat bosses as a team. You can stack on top of one another to make a totem, change into a variety of different outfits that equip different abilities, or enjoy single player mode on your own! There is currently no known release date tagged to this game.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
If you're an Animal Crossing fan you have seen all the homes around town artfully made of full collections, well how about you make those lovely homes? In this installment the player is a home designer and the animals around town will come to you wanting their homes remodeled and it's up to you to make their wishes real. This amiibo integrated addition will be coming to the 3DS in September in America and October in Europe.

Super Mario Maker
Now is your chance to make fun and interesting Mario worlds! You will have every generation at your disposal but have to be aware that each generation was capable of different things and will continue to be bound by those rules. You can upload levels for others to play your creation but you must first beat it so as not to upload something completely unreasonable. You can even see where other players died on your level as it is marked with an X. Pick up Super Mario Maker for the Wii U this September.

E3 2015; Sony

As I mentioned previously Sony vs Microsoft is one of the big things we wait for at E3. And this year, Microsoft won. However I can't lie, Sony did have some noteworthy games to show us. However none of my reviews of the content we were given are all too grand as we saw some of what we have already seen, some new things on preexisting games, and it's not a lot.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
This was once again something we have known about since 2014, but we were given some new extended footage.

This installment to the Naughty Dog series seems to take place somewhere along Africa's east coast and is scheduled to release in the spring of 2016.

The Last Guardian
This fantasy game relying heavily on a puzzle centric gameplay focuses on a young boy and his friendship with a large beast that is something of a bird with dog-like features. Almost gryphon-esque. 

Horizon: Zero Dawn
Welcome to a world long destroyed by it's technology. Roam this robot infested wasteland.

Final Fantast VII Remake
Was Cloud Strife your favorite Final Fantasy character? Did you stop playing after FFVII because he died and you saw no further point to continue? No? That was just me? Well whatever, the game is being completely remastered for PS4 and I can promise you I will be owning that.

Disney Infinity
In my opinion there was no reason for them to even bring this. Their is some new things for Star Wars, a few new Marvel characters, and a handful of Disney heroes.

E3 2015; Ubisoft

Ubisoft is a major game company and we typically expect big things from them. I personally was a little bit disappointed by their turn out. And of course we are getting another Assassin's Creed game, so hold on folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

The Big News

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

This game took on one of this years trends which was simply that feminism is winning as we now have, once again, two main characters. They are siblings, Brother and sister Jacob and Evie Frye doing that typical Robin Hood thing where they steal from the rich and give to the poor, this time in Victorian London, England during the industrial revolution in 1868. 

While the game will be coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One, I highly recommend playing on PS4 if you are one like me that wants to have everything and experience the most of the story as it is now confirmed that there will be PS4 exclusive DLC. The DLC is called "The Dreadful Crimes", in which you will solve crimes inspired by those written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his famous Sherlock Holmes novels. 

This game plays very heavily into the street gangs and impoverished of lower-class London providing the assassins their kingdom, as our two protagonists bring on an uprising, a revolt against the corrupt ones in power. Unlike many other duel protagonist games we have seen this year, you won't be made to choose between one or the other, this game will allow you to play as both at different times during the story. You can freely toggle between Jacob and Evie at your discretion.

We will now have several new weapons to choose from as well. There are brass knuckles, a revolver, and a kukri, to name a few. We will also get darts laced with hallucinogenics that can be shot from hidden locations to blur the vision of your assailants and allows you to move more freely for a brief time. And just to make it a little bit more real now we can use our surroundings to be more badass than ever. In the trailer we were shone, the assassin cut a rope and dropped barrels on the oncoming guard.

This could be the game to revive the franchise as it fell so hard, but then again I say that every time they announce something new and I am always disappointed.

In Other News

Just Dance 2016

Don't require much explanation as we are familiar with the franchise. It is set for release October 20 this year and will be available for this gen consoled as well as last.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

The follow up to The Stick of Truth, play as a new kid as all the South Park kids play superhero.

The Crew

The Wild Run DLC will launch this November .

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Four player and open world, work together to complete missions. Each one has several potential ways to achieve the desired outcome so be creative, there is no wrong answer. Explore on vehicles and possibly aircraft as a Ghost.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

Was further touched on but didn't receive a full review from me as it was announced at last years E3 so this year was purely extra.

Rape Culture

I often hear the argument that we don't live in a rape culture because that would imply rape was socially acceptable and legal, which it isn't. And their right, it isn't legal. However do you understand how easy it is to get away with rape? Or how hard it is to tell anyone because of what they will say? There are many different ways in which rape culture is very alive in western societies, so I' going to break them down.

Victim Blaming and Slut Shaming

It's 2015 and we still ask what the victim was wearing or see a girl in a short skirt or showing cleavage and say she's "asking for it". We still call a girl "easy" if she is comfortable with her sexuality. We still think her sexual history, outfit, dancing, or how much she had to drink, is an invitation. No-one "asks" to be raped. Stop trying to find a way to make the victim feel like she did something wrong, she didn't. The only person at fault in a rape case is the rapist, and he raped her because he is a rapist, not because of anything she had done. My body is my body and I can dress it or do with it whatever I want and it is never an invitation to touch me.

Body Shaming

If a girl is plus sized or you personally don't find her attractive, she will hear that she couldn't have been raped or sexually assaulted. No-one would ever want her so of course she is lying. Honestly how dare you because not only is every single woman beautiful, sexual assault can happen to anyone, regardless of anything else. Because once again, a rapist rapes because they are a rapist, not because of anything else.

Complimenting

A lot of girls who are sexually assaulted, when turning to a friend, hear someone trying to look on the bright side. "At least you know you looked good". There is no "bright side" to sexual assault. He didn't sexually assault her because she looked good, he sexually assaulted her because he is a rapist. See a pattern?

Cat-Calling

It is entirely too common, especially in bigger cities, for a girl to be walking down the street minding her own business, and a man who is walking or driving by will shout something vulgar and obscene at her, honk a horn as he drives back yelling some odd noise out the window, or approach her in a sexual manner. And do people say or so anything about this? No, not really. This is viewed as harmless, and in itself it is somewhat harmless. It is still harassment and still effects women in a negative way, but they aren't physically touching her, right? Wrong. That man feels entitled to her body. Thinks she is a decoration. Is essentially viewing her as less than human, and promoting rape culture.

Rape Jokes
This doesn't even need explained, but sadly there are still people who think they are funny.

Men

I have heard so many people say "men can't get raped". And while men are raped less often, it still happens. And while women are the perpetrators less often, it happens. When a young boy is raped by his teacher or when any male is raped by a female, he is told that boys don't get raped. He is told he is lucky. Vulgar comments show up online to the effect of "she can 'rape' me any day". He is called gay if he wasn't in to it.

Anyone can be a victim of rape.

Anyone can be a rapist.

Stop promoting rape culture.

E3 2015; EA

EA gets a lot of hate, which is honestly not ofter justified. This year they had some relevant products to add to the E3 lineup. Though that being said it's much like the Oblivion vs. Skyrim argument. Did EA do alright? Yeah for sure. Did they stand on equal grounds with the other panels? Not quite. However though their good news may have been few and far between, it's worth looking at.

The Big News

Mass Effect Andromeda
"Explore a new Galaxy" flashed across the screen accompanied with a brief teaser. Those four words mixed with the title, of course, leads us to reasonable belief that the game will take place in the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light years from earth, as opposed to our Milky Way. While, as is the trend, I don't know much, there was some confirmed information. BioWare has stated plainly that this installment will not star the familiar Commander Shepherd. And knowing that it will share many core features with Dragon Age doesn't tell me as much as I would like. Graphically? Game mechanics? Controls? While I thought about this for a long time I think it may be entirely too vague and just needs to be thrown out. It's also been implied that there is a potential to restore certain data from previous saves of older installments. 

Mirror's Edge Catalyst
I want to get it out of the way now, there were rumors of Anita Sarkeesian being a consultant on this game after her wildly sexist remarks that the controls of the game were too complicated for women, that has been proven to be a myth likely started by 4chan. This game is Sarkeesian free.

This game intends to expand upon the prior existing parkour focus, however the combat is still broken and the parkour seems to be less free run and find the best way for your play style and skill set and more linear, which I am sad to see.

In Other News

Star Wars
Both Battlefront, the multiplayer combat game, and The Old Republic, the PC MMO, both have new things on the horizon.

Need for Speed
A full reboot featuring possibly their biggest open world set for release this November.

E3 2015; Microsoft

For a long time now E3's biggest rivalry has been Microsoft vs. Sony. We all hang around to wait and see who is gonna do what. You have the Sony fans or Microsoft fans who defend everything that their console does or rubs all the great features in the other fans face, and then you have the gaming fans, like my husband and I who wait and hear from both and what console we support that year depends heavily on how their E3 conference went. This year, Microsoft won in a big way.

The big news

Console
There isn't a lot to say here other than simply we all complained enough that Microsoft decided to finally listen to us! Xbox One is finally backwards compatible so if you were like me clinging to your Xbox 360 because you didn't want to lose some of your favorite games, we can finally progress forward! In my opinion after owning both, the Xbox 360 was a better console than the PS3. Then coming in to this generation, the PS4 had all these great new games coming that were Sony exclusive, they were focused on gaming while Xbox One was about a whole entertainment experience which I felt took from the gaming consoles purpose, and new Xbox games were few and far between and I still loved my 360 games so much. I am now ready to throw out my 360 that I was clinging to so violently (my husband asked a hundred times to trade it in) and trade up for the One.

Who Need's Feminism?

I was scrolling through a tumblr blog dedicated to women who have typically snarky things about feminism. I'm not here to demonize those women, but it got me thinking again about anti-feminist women. You have a right to feel the way you do and speak your mind, but you have to consider that your experiences are not everyone's experiences. You may say you don't need feminism because you have never experienced adversity, but someone else may say they need it because of things that happened to them. Feminism isn't selfish. I'm not a feminist for me, I'm a feminist for every woman who has faced gender based inequality. I went to a different tumblr account, whoneedsfeminsm.tumblr.com to show you guys some of the women that make us feminists.

Male Privilege

My husband sent me this in a text message a couple days ago and I'm not sure whether he meant it seriously or just to push my buttons because he knows I'm an ultra feminist. Regardless though that then sparked me making a large rebuttal to the post and I want to go ahead and make a point about it because I am sick and tired of seeing this image and similar ones used in arguments.

"Male privilege" makes no sense to me because there are facets of life in which men are the privileged but there are ones in which women are the privileged. I don't like being upset with an entire gender because of one or the other being "privileged". The problem with images and posts like the one above is that whoever it is that is trying to prove they have it worse cherry picks their issues while ignoring anyone else's societal problems. And in most cases, the content of the image doesn't actually hold any merit.

E3 2015; Bethesda

Bethesda announced back on February 10th that this year they would hold their first E3 conference, and on Sunday, June 14 they kicked off the E3 event. It has been a big topic this year whether or not this would be the reveal of Fallout 4 or Elder Scrolls 6. My husband and I each made our guesses and I ended up being wrong. Here is an overview of what you missed with Bethesda's big announcements Sunday.

The big announcements

Fallout 4
Yes that's right, Fallout won. And while Fallout is an excellent game I was of course disappointed as Elder Scrolls is my favorite series. Set in Boston, MA the first trailer for this eagerly awaited sequel was aired June 3rd, then answering those pestering questions about what would be announced Sunday. The game is post apocalyptic as always and will follow a survivor who was locked up in an underground vault and is now emerging into the remains of the world. However what is new is that this game will actually begin before the bombs ever drop.

This addition to the series is extremely customizable and creator friendly. You are focusing on a family and you customize two characters and then choose to play as either the husband or the wife, and they even create a baby based on the two characters you create. When you leave the bathroom in the morning the character creation is done, but that aspect of the game isn't actually over because later in the game you have opportunities to craft weapons and build cities. Everything from houses to businesses, you can salvage and rebuild existing establishments or build from scratch. 

Your city will look the way you want it to look. As you build more and more NPCs will visit or even stay to live or work, you are trying to achieve a completely functional new world for survivors to carry on in. And of course we can't forget the weapon and armor creation. Essentially there are several base things that you can use, but there are also infinite numbers of parts lying around which means infinite creation options for your play style. Anita Sarkeesian weighed in with what I think was a wildly ignorant remark but we all know how I feel bout her

You can have companions such as your dog, likely some other NPCs, and potentially the family robot, who also survived. And to be honest what is strange to me isn't that the robot survived and your spouse and child did not, but more so the fact that you did as this takes place 200 years later, but I digress. What will be new to this installment is the ability to issue commands to your companions such as to pick up items.

Many recent games have been utilizing our smart phones to their full ability with second screen experiences. They all seem to have digital companions that do one thing or another, but it seems Fallout's will be the best and most interesting, helping with role playing and further emerging yourself into the game. There will be a Pip-Boy app allowing you to access your in game Pip-Boy without having to pull it up in game interrupting your gameplay. This, in my opinion, allows it to feel more real to the player. If you were actually in that position you wouldn't pause life to do things, you would have to check things like that while things were happening around you. Now you are still completely capable of pulling it in game on screen if that is your preference, but I love fully emerging myself into the games I play and think this is a great way to do it. There will also be a collectors version available at some point for preorder of the game that will come with a real life Pip-Boy that can hold your smart phone.

Very little is known about the story at this time, but here is what we do know

Soda Cupcakes

Time for more recipes from Pixie's weight watchers adventure! These are 2 point cupcakes.

All you need is your favorite boxed dry cake mix and 12 ounces of diet soda. If you have cans of soda in your house, those are 12 ounces. I have this 20 ounce bottle because it was cheaper than buying a 12 pack of soda cans plus i got to think the remainder. If you have to measure out the soda because you over did it like me, 12 ounces is a cup and a half. Also you could use regular soda but on weight watchers it was only 2 points if I used diet.

#WomenAgainstFeminism

When I originally started writing up this post I had a bunch of examples of celebrities who had turned away the title "feminist" for one reason or another, but last night in the middle of the night I was scrolling through my Facebook and a girl I went to high school with posted something that I think makes a better example of why many women don't want to take on the title of "feminist". So I am going to go ahead and show you that post and explain it to you guys. I cut off her name because the purpose here is in no way to throw her under the bus but simply to show you all something I think is important.