Learning that the Iditerod is not as much a household name as I thought, so figured I'd poll a larger audience

(Not counting naturally occurring things like people and rocks and plants)

Consider things like coins, books, or family heirlooms! Tell me about it in the tags!

I guess this here hellsite is full of archaeo & hist nerds

Those who have seen both Star Wars and Stargate SG-1, time to ask the Important Question™

Please reblog for visibility and a bigger sample size, I need answers so I can die in peace

Australia had it coming.

You need do drop what you’re doing and watch this movie immediately if you answered “No”. Or “Haven’t even heard of this”.

Or “Yes”.

Is this as gay as it looks? I need to know that it's as gay as it looks. Like, for my health.

Is it gay?!

This year marks the 20th anniversary of D.E.B.S. In honor of that, let me retell this story.

It was March of 2004. I was up at my parents' from grad. school and on the phone (the telephone, not a cell phone) with my old roommate from undergrad. who was back home from China (I was in Garden Grove and he was in El Monte). We were trying to figure out something to do, and so I decided to flip through the newspaper to see what movies were playing, because that's how you found out what movies were playing, at the time, outside of going to the theater or dialing up Moviefone.

The advertisement looked much like the image above, but in black and white. I started reading the copy to him, and got to the part about a secret test hidden inside the S.A.T., and I was like, "Have you heard of this?" He hadn't. "Let's go see it."

And so this is how two straighter than decent gentlemen in their early 20s went to see D.E.B.S. in the movie theater.

The movie starts out pretty campy with some cheap gags, but by the time I heard Michael Clarke Duncan explain that Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster) was behind the plot to sink Australia, I knew I was in the right place.

First of all, D.E.B.S. is a send-up of spy movies. James Bond had become popular again, with Pierce Brosnan, we had xXx, Austin Powers had come out. This was a new parody, but with female leads, and it was hilarious. But if that's all it was, it probably wouldn't have been made.

Bearing in mind that neither my friend nor I had any idea what this movie was about going in outside the small advertisement in the newspaper, very slowly I realize that this movie is not simply a spy movie parody, it's actually a very charming, very heartwarming enemies-to-lovers lesbian love story.

At the time I was totally oblivious, but if you watched TV or film in the 90s/00s and what you were watching had a lesbian in it, odds are that lesbian was going to die. You know how when you're watching a movie and the hero seems like they're down for the count but you know they're going to come back in the end because they're on the poster? It was like the opposite of that for lesbian characters.

And yet in the midst of this culture here was a film that is ultimately a story about a girl coming into her by finally accepting who she really is and following her heart, as opposed to whatever everyone else wants her and expects her to do. She's the hero, she's definitely tested, and there's a time she looks like she may be down for the count, but you know what? She comes back in the end. She gets together with the girl of her dreams. And no one dies.

This was in 2004.

Furthermore, this movie is solidly PG. There's cartoonish levels of violence that are the rough equivalent of the 1960s Batman TV show, mild swearing (one R slur that we wouldn't use anymore, but, at the time, the guy who says it is a bad guy, so…eh?), and a bedroom scene where everyone is covered up and there's only implied sexual activity. This is a movie kids can watch.

The movie was written and directed by Angela Robinson, writer for The L Word and Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman. It was her first feature. And, so help me, again, IT WAS 2004. Like…you have no idea. Among other things, the film is a kind of critique/examination of post-9/11 American society, and, honestly, it's hilarious. D.E.B.S. are an all-female government-sponsored spy agency. Homeland Security is presented as all male. They're all 18-22. At the end of the year they go to a prom called Endgame. And despite the fact that it's just a setup and you're not supposed to think too much about it, the first major scene of the movie involves the D.E.B.S., Homeland Security, CIA, and a bunch of others all spying on two known criminals who are meeting up at a restaurant. They don't know what they're up to, but given their dossier, it must be bad. And basically they blow their cover due to incompetence. And, on top of that, it turns out the thing they were spying on was nothing more than a blind date. This was the era of government-sanctioned spying on people who "looked" suspicious (not saying that that doesn't happened now, but back then they were enthusiastically cheering it on quite openly).

So, is it gay?

Yes. Yes, it is gay. It is landmark gay. It's far from perfect, but it's got a killer soundtrack, a hilarious performance by Jimmi Simpson, and it will leave you with a smile on your face. It was the gay that was needed at the time, and it's the type of gay you need in your life right now.

Watch D.E.B.S. If for nothing else than to appreciate the incredible expressive power of Jill Ritchie's face.

somehow people are still able to vote on this even though tumblr obliterated the original post. it turns out, however, that this was a prescient mercy killing because now I don't have to receive notifications about your auxiliary sebastians and what a bad bad girl i am for forgetting about them. however, i want to address something.

I DID forget about 12th night though. thats on me and my 9th grade english teacher.

thank you for participating and have a great weekend!

J F Sebastian from Bladerunner

For the record, accidentally tapping on Tumblr live when it randomly appears every week does not count as using Tumblr live for the sake of this poll. This is only referring to purposeful use of the feature.

I'd appreciate it if people could share this for a larger sample size!

Third option: yes (it's super traditional where I'm from)