'Cars 2' British Flavor

With Cars 2 having a more international theme and storyline,  I found interesting the new characters that will pop up in the upcoming film.

In addition to Team Lightning McQueen getting to experience the hospitality of Luigi's hometown when the World Grand Prix's second race takes place in Italy, action takes place in Japan and England as well. 
 
The movie makes its British debut on July 22, and there will be more than a few familiar characters, voices and a home country feel for British audiences to enjoy.

In addition to seeing iconic vehicles like London bus Topper Deckington III, London cab Chauncy Fares, and Sgt. Highgate it was interesting to note that Queen Elizabeth II was immortalized in the film along with the just married Prince William. 

Character Art Director Jay Shuster was well aware of the tricky task of respectfully depicting a national sovereign for this movie
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Specifically with The Queen’s design it took some careful stepping as we, of course, were on hallowed ground emulating a nation’s sovereign as a car. The Queen’s design in our film is inspired by the elegant lines and paint schemes of British car designs of the finest vintage.

In addition to the Royal Family representatives, British Formula 1 champion driver Lewis Hamilton is one of the racers in this film. 

I thought (and my Formula 1 loving friend will probably agree with me) it should have been as a Formula 1 race car to be a stickler for authenticity, but the Hamilton character as one of the World Grand Prix racers in this movie still looks cool and better yet, he'll be doing the voiceover for it.. 

And yes, the British theme of this movie wouldn't be complete without me mentioning the Sir Michael Caine voiced British intelligence agents Finn McMissile, his sidekick Siddley and agent Holley Shiftwell. 

Think I need to reconsider eating buttered popcorn when i go see this one and get fish and chips instead..

British Transpeople Successfully Shut Down Transphobic UK Conference

Did I not stress to folks that the trans rights struggle in the 2K10's would be conducted under new rules?

In addition to fighting tooth and nail any unjust laws aimed at us and demand we be part of the process in compiling any laws that benefit us, we are also going to take control of the education message. 

In other words, we are no longer going to allow non trans people to lie to the public about who we are.

Our British trans cousins have been busy across The Pond fighting a May 20 London trans conference sponsored by the Royal College of Psychiatrists Lesbian and Gay Special Interest Group.


The ‘Transgender: Time To Change’ event by the RCP drew the ire of the British trans community because they felt not only was it going to feature two of our major detractors in the UK, radical lesbian hate feminist Julie Bindel and Dr.Az Hakeem, the RCP's Lesbian And Gay Special Interest Group had no expertise on trans issues.

Their efforts were successful when the Gender Identity Clinic at Charing Cross Hospital, the UK's oldest and most respected trans treatment center pulled out of the event and it was subsequently canceled by the Royal College of Psychologists.


A spokeswoman for the Center stated: “Although we were somewhat wary of engaging in what is essentially a clinical discussion with a predominantly non-trans panel, which, moreover, features a non-clinician (Bindel) whose personal opinion is already well known, we agreed to do so in order that discussion might focus on evidence rather than anecdote. 

“The Royal College should be aware that there is a great deal of disquiet around this event within the trans community. Interested parties should also note that the discussion as it now stands will be one-sided at best.”

Activist Jane Fae, speaking for the organizers of the trans protest said: “The only people to blame for this are the Royal College. They could have had a very successful event if they had talked to the trans community and included people.”

Gee, sounds familiar to what's been happening on our side of the Atlantic.

But congratulations British trans cousins for stopping what was certain to be a disastrous event in your nation's capitol that could have had a deleterious effect on trans policy issues in the UK.  

It also sends a message that the next time you wish to hold a trans conference, start by having the people who live trans lives involved in the planning of it.

It's Sade's Birthday!

Happy birthday to Helen Folasade Adu, known to the rest of the world as simply Sade.

Y'all know how much I love her music and wasn't letting today pass without at least doing some kind of shout out birthday post to her.

MAGNET Protests Stonewall UK Transphobia Outside British Consulate

No matter where we are on this planet, to paraphrase the late Houston crusading consumer reporter Marvin Zindler, 'It's hell to be trans.'

One of the things we deal with is the transphobia aimed at us from inside and outside the GLBT community, and the worst offenders many times are other GL people..  

MAGNET coordinated a protest outside the British Consulate in New York timed to occur at the same moment the Stonewall UK Awards were happening across The Pond.    It was about a video produced by Stonewall UK that includes the term 't****y', which has become a derogatory and insulting slur word to many in our community.

The New York trans community wanted to show solidarity with our British trans cousins, which was why the consulate there was targeted.

Ashley Love, MAGNET organizer had this to say about last night's protest:

"We protested tonight in front of the British Consulate, New York, because a very alarming situation is happening in the UK. A transphobic DVD named “FIT” has been approved to show children and youth in public schools. The anti-transsexual slur “tra**y” is being used, which is used as a taunt and insult when bullies and bigots harass people perceived to be transsexual, intersex or gender non-conforming. This outrage is being ignored by Stonewall UK, who not only advised on the DVD, but has an unhealthy past with the UK trans community, who they exclude from their mission statement, and then back lobby against their interests."

"We ask the Dept. of Education, The Teachers Union, Equality and Human Rights Commission and Stonewall UK to protect the well being of all the children who attend school, and make the responsible and socially conscious decision to edit out the dehumanizing pejorative from the DVD." she said.. 

"Normalizing the T-word, much like how the N-word was normalized decades ago to degrade Black people, will have severe consequences for the acceptance of trans people in mainstream society.  It’s unbelievable that an oppressed minority group, especially children, could have their human rights be disrespected like this by authority figures. As adults, we must protect trans children. Teachers being forced to show DVDs with anti-trans slurs will do no such thing. The good news is that the decision makers involved still have a chance to do what’s right and fix this horrid mistake."

British Trans Tube Tragedy

In London our British trans cousins are dealing with a horrific situation in which 63 year old transwoman Sonia Burgess was pushed to her death at 6:30 PM local time yesterday under a London subway Piccadilly Line train while awaiting its arrival at the Kings Cross Station.

34 year old Nina Kanagasingham has been charged with her murder and as of yet, it is not being investigated according to Pink News UK as a hate crime.

Ms. Burgess was a civil rights attorney who leaves behind three adult children and grieving colleagues at her law firm.

And once again, the list of names we'll be reading for the upcoming TDOR ceremony grows.

BBC And Channel 4 Working On Better Trans Media Representation

Thanks to the recently passed Equality Act of 2010 and the newly formed Trans Media Watch group,  the BBC and Channel 4 television in Great Britain are working to get up to speed in terms of more positive coverage of trans people and their issues.

BBC and Channel 4 senior managers recently admitted according to a Pink News story that transgender storylines can be inaccurate and are frequently lacking in breadth and substance.

Hmm.  Sounds familiar on this side of The Pond as well.

The newly formed media watchdog group Trans Media Watch is also in discussion with both broadcasting entities to ensure that there are positive and more varied representations of trans people in addition to creating and enacting guidelines to combat negative trans stereotypes.

TMW's Sarah Lake says in a Jane Fae written story for Pink News, “As soon as we began comparing the way trans people are stereotyped in the media with that of LGB people and other minorities, both Stuart and Amanda Rice of the BBC Diversity Unit got it immediately.


TMW has also been working quietly behind the scenes with Channel 4 and the BBC to craft simple guidelines that would help UK broadcasters avoid unintentionally offending their trans audience.
The media push is sorely needed.   Recent polling compiled by Trans Media Watch and presented to broadcasters suggests that 78 per cent of the transgender community believes the media portrayals they saw of transpeople were either inaccurate or highly inaccurate, with only three per cent considering them accurate.

So yes, they have some work to do to change those perceptions in the UK trans community.

There's also work to be done as well with British media personnel in getting them acquainted with trans people.  “We do not believe most of the constant casual abuse and ridicule of trans people in broadcasting is deliberately intended to be malicious. In our meetings so far we’ve not come across a single broadcaster who had ever consciously had a meaningful conversation with a trans man or woman,” said Susan Lake.


Lake added: “At TMW we do not claim to represent all trans people, who are very diverse. We do however believe all trans people deserve respect.”

That we do.  But at the same time we have to be mindful of the fact that media coverage plays a pwerful role in shaping public perceptions of the trans community and determining how much respect we get.  

It's nice to see that steps are being taken in the UK to ensure we get that transpeople consistently get those fair and accurate media portrayals.

Diane Abbott Running For British Labour Party Leadership

Labour Party MP Diane Abbott made history in 1987 as the first Black female MP in Britain. Now the British born daughter of Jamaican immigrants and Cambridge University graduate is trying to become the leader of the Labour Party.

“I am running for the leadership because I am the best candidate for the job,” Diane Abbott declared in a interview posted on The Third Estate blog. “The most immediate task is to rebuild and revitalise the party and no other candidate has my experience of the party.”

The current leadership race was triggered after Gordon Brown resigned as the British Prime Minister and Labour party leader on May 10.

Ten days later Abbott announced she was running.



"I am not just another man in a suit. There’s not a lot of difference between the candidates so far. I am standing because I represent "real choice," not a return to the Blair/Brown politics of the past 13 years. I voted against the Iraq war which is the single biggest source of disillusionment with Labour. And I do not believe that we lost the election because of immigration, as some of my rivals seem to be suggesting. I am a truly independent candidate who will create real change out of the ashes of New Labour, and reclaim the true identity of the Labour Party."

If Abbott becomes the leader of the party, and Labour wins the 2015 Parliamentary elections, she would become the second female and first African descended Prime Minister in British history.

She's been during her time as the MP for the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency a strong civil liberties, equal rights and education advocate.



The Labour Party leadership vote started on September 1 and will conclude on September 22. Labour MPs, Members of the European Parliament, individual party members, and individual members of trade unions and other affiliated groups are eligible to vote with the results will be announced at the September 25 Labour Party conference in Manchester.

The question remains is after that vote, will Diane Abbott be one step closer to making British history?

At any rate, Diane Abbott definitely bears watching by we children of the African diaspora and other interested parties.