Tuesday News: New Sherlock Holmes story, emoji diversity, 50 Shades v. Secretary, and undelivered Kickstarters
Lost Sherlock Holmes story discovered in man’s attic – Arthur Conan Doyle contributed a short story to a small book produced to support the building of an iron bridge in Selkirk, Scotland, after the original wood bridge was destroyed. Conan Doyle was apparently a frequent visitor to Selkirk and a copy of the book was given to a local resident, who kept it for 50 years without paying attention to what was inside. The book, including the 1300-word story, will be on display in a local museum.
It is believed the story – about Holmes deducing Watson is going on a trip to Selkirk – is the first unseen Holmes story by Doyle since the last was published over 80 years ago.
Mr Elliot, a great-grandfather, said: “In Selkirk, there was a wooden bridge that was put up some time before it was flooded in 1902.
“The town didn’t have the money to replace it so they decided to have a bazaar to replace the bridge in 1904. They had various people to come and do things and just about everyone in the town did something. –The Telegraph
Apple Has Reportedly Developed More Racially Diverse Emojis, but We’re Still Missing Important Food Emojis – Apple is finally – supposedly — getting ready to release diverse emojis, with six different skin tones. There was apparently some confusion about the yellow emojis, which were initially slammed online for portraying a racist version of Asian skin, except for the fact that they were not intended to reflect any human skin tone, but were instead the “default emoji yellow.”
There’s also a larger variety of country flags and emojis to represent different types of families, plus the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch has been added to the catalog. You know, in case you want to mock someone for buying the Apple watch through emoticons. –E! Online
Secretary and 50 Shades of Grey – I pretty much want to quote every single paragraph of this post. Although I’m not a particular fan of 50 Shades, much of the harshest blanket criticism makes me want to jump in and defend what is — in my opinion — a collection of some really common genre tropes. I’m also fascinated by the number of authors who have professionally benefitted/profited from criticizing/parodying the book. Anyway, back to Erika Moen’s thoughtful post about how 50 compares to the film Secretary, which has been offered up as a more accurate and healthier portrayal of BDSM. Among other things, Moen hits on the double standards with which 50 is often flogged (sorry, couldn’t resist), as well as the question of whether it’s fair to trust that women can enjoy the film without being indoctrinated into unconscious submission to the patriarchy, while assuming they can’t do the same with 50.
I completely appreciate that since 50 Shades became popular, now people are suddenly invested in pointing out the portrayal of abuse in romantic relationships in mainstream media. Yes, society upholds some pretty toxic models of heterosexual relationships through our entertainment and this needs to be actively combated.
But I’m just… kind of befuddled about the double-standard 50 Shades Critics have when it comes to the movie Secretary.
Readers took issue with me when I said in my comic that I have general faith in people to differentiate between what they find arousing in their fantasy porn and how they behave in real life with their real relationships. They fear that women will now just blindly throw themselves into unsafe situations and dangerous relationships because of these books. But I still believe that people –even women!– can enjoy problematic porn fantasies without being completely brainwashed by it, just like Secretary fans have already been proving since 2002. –Oh Joy Sex Toy
12 Successful Kickstarters That Never Delivered – Despite the many successful gaming campaigns that have been funded through Kickstarter, there are some notable big ticket projects that never delivered. Kotaku has decided to profile some of these projects — perhaps with the hope that the attention might catalyze some movement in them? It’s actually a pretty depressing list of how more than $2M donated dollars seem to have gone missing.
One of last week’s biggest stories was the struggle of Godus, Peter Molyneux’s undercooked strategy game that raised ~800,000 on Kickstarter in late 2012. But at least that game came out, even if it was unfinished and disappointing to most backers. There are other Kickstarters, both big and small, that have gone MIA or taken years longer than originally promised.
We’ve put together a list of 12 game-related Kickstarter projects that took people’s money but never quite delivered. The combined total: $2,098,967. We plan to continue shining a light on crowdfunded projects that never come to fruition, so e-mail me if you’d like to share any. –Kotaku
The emoji thing is ridiculous: do people really feel discriminated because the lol face isn’t white/black/olive skinned like them? I’m brown and I never even thought about that.
Speaking of 50 Shades of Grey, has anyone read/heard about this article yet?
UIC Student Accused in Sex Assault Tied to “50 Shades of Grey” Movie
Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/UIC-Student-Sexual-Assault-50-Shades-of-Grey-Scenes-293739911.html#ixzz3Sfp02wjk
In my political circle, I’ve been vocal in my defense of women’s ability to differentiate, but a friend who was active in the BDSM scene in her community objects to 50SoG on the basis that she ended up policing bad “doms” (i.e., guys who wanted an excuse and a legitimate label) and getting abused “subs” out of their situations (lots of these situations) which had NOTHING to do with the lifestyle. She was afraid of the above-linked situations and she foresees a slew of them coming. I can’t defend this anymore, because it’s not about a woman’s ability to differentiate.
OTOH, I’ll defend SECRETARY all day long.
@Junne: Agree. I’m Asian and never felt like the yellow represented anything other than that emojis started with a smiley face.
Also, I think my office internet filter is keeping me from being able to get to the ohjoysextoy.com blog. Heh. Will have to remember to check that article out later.
I don’t see a way to comment at Oh Joy Sex Toy, so I’ll comment here.
“The only difference between these two stories is that one is absurdly poorly written and the other is beautifully, masterfully told.”
I think the “only difference” part absolutely false. The big difference I see between them is that “Secretary” is about two kinky people both getting exactly what they want.
@Junne:
I don’t think it became a problem until emojis started coming out that had skin colors other than yellow. I have no problem with brown/olive/etc skin people wanting NOT to use white skin emojis. If all of the emoji’s had stayed yellow, this would not have become an issue. But when you have start personification, don’t get surprised when people want to see themselves in things they use on a daily basis.
@willaful: Someone elsewhere said that Secretary is about awakening, and 50 Shades about grooming a naive girl into an abusive situation.