Why isn't 'Batgirl' a valid career choice?

Fans of justice, rejoice!  Because, that totally innocent-except-for-that-whole-pleading-guilty-in-court-thing Ronnie Radke is up for parole and may be headed for house arrest!  Or at least, that's the word on the blog for his new band Falling In Reverse, formerly known as From Behind These Walls.  I guess maybe they realized that band name pretty much failed at anything resembling subtlety?

Anyway, yes.  Ronnie will be on house arrest.  But as we all know, the last time Ronnie was sentenced to something restrictive but not actually jail, he didn't last very long.  So, here's a list of some suggestions of things he can do while on house arrest to keep history from repeating itself! Take notes, y'all...

So, one of those little guilty pleasures I have is knitting.

Yeah, knitting.

To be fair, I was lured into it by  a friend who gave me a pair of needles with skulls on them for my birthday a few years back.  But anyway, yes, I knit.  I'm not very good, but I did just start my first sock this weekend.  Heels are evil.

You know who else is evil?  Voldemort.  Just wait, this is going somewhere. 

Because another one of my not-so-guilty pleasures happens to be Harry Potter.  And there's a lot of knitters who share these combined interests, to the point that there's actually a book entitled Charmed Knits that contains all Harry Potter themed projects. 

But, in case that wasn't enough?  Opal yarns has released a series of self-striping sock yarns (which means, basically, the yarn itself is dyed so that, when you knit the sock, it automatically stripes.  You don't have to mess around with switching colors or intarsia or fair isle) all of which are Potter themed. 

I didn't know this until I found these in a local yarn shop.  And, because Nessa would kill me if I didn't, I took pictures.

Harry:

Ron:

Draco:

Hedwig:

Dumbledor:

And my personal favorite, Tonks:

There are a few others I didn't get pictures of, but shockingly there is NO Hermione yarn!  Seriously! 

If you'd like to see how these knit up, you can head to this website for pictures of the finished products, and the other yarns I didn't snap pictures of.

Oh, and if you're interested?  My store had these priced at about $22 a skein.  I'm pretty sure each skein makes one pair of socks each.  So...it might be awhile before I'm investing in these.

According to reports circling teh interwebz right now, there are plans to make a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer movie.

Great, right?  I mean, Buffy is a cult hit TV show, had...no wait, still HAS...a large and loyal fanbase and was responsible for the rise to power of one Joss Whedon.  So this movie should be awesome!

Except for the part where none of the supporting characters will be featured in the movie.  And the movie will have no connection to the original TV series.  Oh, and Joss Whedon's not involved.

Excuse me for a moment here:

Hey, don't get me wrong, I've been excited since word broke that new Buffy-related TV or movies was possible thanks, ironically, to the performance of the Twilight empire.  Vampires make money right now, and hey, if THOSE books manage to re-ignite interest in a young woman who kicks ass, takes names, grows up and still falls in love with a vampire (spoiler warning, ladies: she doesn't marry him or have his baby)?  Awesome.

But this Buffy project?  No.  Really, if you want to do a Buffy movie without characters like Willow, Xander, Giles, Angel, Anya and the rest of the gang, with no connection to the show and without the man who created it, why the HELL are you calling it a "Buffy" project other than in hopes of luring in unsuspecting Buffy die-hards? 

Not to mention...a REBOOT?  Why do that when there are still plenty of places to go in the Buffy-verse?  Giles' history, a Fray movie, adaptations of Tales of the Slayers or Tales of the Vampires (all three of these are awesome comics, check them out, yo), even an Illyria movie!

Long story short?  In every generation there is a chosen one.  And you do not eff with her, got it?

I was not stoned when I wrote this.  But I did have a nasty case of the munchies.

Life is a series of days at the beach.  And we're all trying to catch a wave.  And no matter how good you are, no matter how long you been doin' this?  You're gonna wipe out, dude.

Now, when you wipe out, you got two options.  You can sit on the shore and think about how it was the board's fault.  Or the wave's fault.  Or the sun's fault.  Or your own fault.

But dude, that wave is gone.  It ain't ever comin' back.  But there are plenty of other waves you could be catchin' if you weren't too busy sittin' on the shore placing the blame.

So, your second option is to just get back out there and try to catch another wave.

Hey, sometimes it ain't easy.  Sometimes you gotta take some time to fix your board or get a new board or get stitched up or even heal a broken bone.  Sometimes you're gonna get hurt.

But the goal is always to get back out there.  'Cause if you don't you're gonna sit on the shore and by the time you blink, the sun'll be down and you gotta wait 'til tomorrow to ride again.  And who knows when that could be.

You don't ride the wave to get to the shore.  It's not a race.  If all you're thinkin' about when you're riding the wave is what's waiting for you on the shore, why bother leaving the short in the first place?  You ride the wave to ride the wave, dude.  The key is to enjoy every second you can and not let the wave ride you.

Sorry for the lack of blogging, I've been busy with my day job and trying to jumpstart The Riot.  I'm even a little later blogging this than I wanted to be, but I also felt the need to get it out of my system.

While a lot of the discussion over Rihanna and Chris Brown has died down, I still find myself upset by many of the reactions I saw to the situation. And I am not just talking about the people who said she deserved it or even that she was making it up. I am also talking about the people who proceeded to insult her when it was announced that she and Chris Brown were getting back together.

"But he's abusive!" seemed to be what a lot of what was being said. "And if she knows he's abusive and she goes back to him, she's just dumb and asking for him to hit her again."

In some of these situations, I've walked away. In others I've tried to explain to people the mental state of an abuse victim: yes, even if you know he's going to hurt you again, even if you know that he is full out abusive, you still want to be with him. Of course, the genders can also be switched in this situation, I'm using "him" as an example and also because a larger percentage of women tend to be abused than men.

And then the clouds opened, the birds sang and I read Dan Savage's column "Savage Love."

Okay, to be fair: I don't always agree with Dan Savage and sometimes his answers upset me. But a lot of the time I find myself agreeing with him. This is one of those cases.

Dan received the following letter:

I've been seeing this guy for about two years. We've been living together for six months now, and it's been REALLY bumpy. We fight a lot, I cry a lot, and it just gets really messy. To tell you the truth, I'm tired of it. I work two jobs, and I never get any time to myself because he's moody and insecure. He always wants to know where I'm going or who I'm with. He doesn't like to do the same things I do, and I'm beginning to think this is all one big mistake. The problem is every time I try to leave, it always gets ugly. Ugly to the point that he's thrown my stuff in the front yard, broken things of mine, and even called me names. He's abusive.

As sad as this sounds, and as ridiculous as I feel, I want to make this work. I want us to be happy. And the thing is, I know that we can be. When we're mad, it's like World War III over here. But when we're happy, it's so blissful that I know in my heart with him is the only place I want to be. What can I do? People tell me it's time to sever ties, but the people who usually tell me this are the ones who can't stand him. How can I make a completely unbiased decision? Am I stupid for believing in a love that feels destined to fail?

Hopelessly Devoted To Him

Read this again. And again. Because this is what goes through the head of people who go back to their abusers. And while you may think this is an isolate incident? According to DoSomething.org's 1 in 3 Campaign:

• One in three teens experience some kind of abuse in their romantic relationships, including verbal and emotional abuse.
• 80% of girls who have been physically abused keep dating their abuser.

It has nothing to do with intelligence. It doesn't even really have much to do with common sense, because when you've reached that point? Common sense doesn't work. But when we're happy, it's so blissful that I know in my heart with him is the only place I want to be. I have heard women in abusive situations say things like this, I said something like it myself when I was being abused. You know it's bad, but you keep holding out for the good parts.

As for Dan's answer to this letter? (bolding is my own)

This is not a relationship, HDTH, it's a hostage situation. He's a controlling, abusive piece of shit—listen to your fucking friends, HDTH. When your boyfriend breaks your shit, he's making an implicit threat: I can break your face just as easily as I'm breaking your shit, bitch, so don't even think about leaving me. And of course things are great when they're great—that's part of an abuser's MO. If abusers were abusive 24/7—if they weren't capable of doling out a little bliss now and then—no abusive relationship would last longer than one date. Like all abusers, he parcels out the good times, doping you up with a little bliss now and then, because he knows that these glimpses of how great things could be convince you to stick around against your better judgment.

The bliss is a con, HDTH, a weapon that he uses against you, just as much a part of the cycle of abuse as his tantrums, fits, and threats of violence are. Think of the good times as rainbow sprinkles on a dog-shit sundae—sprinkles or no sprinkles, you're still standing there with a bowlful of dog shit in your hands.

Get a couple of friends to come over when he's at work or out of town, box up your shit, and leave. You can't change him. Go.

As I've said before, in the case of Chris Brown and Rihanna, there was psychological conditioning. This was not "One day, Chris Brown woke up and felt abusive." Because, folks, abusers do NOT just sit up one morning and go "Hey, I think I'll abuse my partner!" They're not one dimensional super villains from old school comics. They don't all dress the same, talk the same, act the same.

And you know what? I don't have an answer on how to stop abuse, other than completely uprooting society's ideals about gender, sexuality, equality and relationships, which is a lofty goal and yeah, maybe someday, but right now the point is: 1 in 3 teenagers are being abused in relationships. That is 1 too many.

For more information on teen dating abuse, or if you are in an abusive relationship and want help getting out, you can check out the following sites:

• DoSomething.org's 1 in 3 Campaign
• Love is Respect: National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline
• How To Recognize Your Teen Is In An Abusive Relationship and How to Get Them Out of It

I invite you to come discuss this issue at The Riot.