rusty_halo

So I've been catching up with what's been going on in fandom lately, and it's kind of turned into another rant....

Here's Joss Whedon complaining about misogyny on Whedonesque. I have plenty of issues with the way Joss writes women, and I'm annoyed at the implication of some of the comments that this issue is suddenly worth talking about because a man brought it up. That said, I very much appreciate that Joss is upset by the utter ubiquitousness of misogyny in our culture, and that he feels compelled to post about it.

I was reading Fandom Wank yesterday, and I got so sick reading the discussions surrounding the repulsive Mary Jane statue from Sideshow Collectibles (I'm never buying anything from them again). Specifically I was disgusted by the men popping up and complaining about how it's not a big deal, about how the "feminazis" need to shut up and leave them alone, about how oppressed the poor men are by the evil women, blah blah blah *TEARING MY HAIR OUT* BULLSHIT. And then someone reverses the genders and portrays a male character in the over-the-top sexual way that women are used to, and suddenly the men are throwing hissy fits. (Also amusing: this reversal of Spiderman and Mary Jane's positions--scroll to the end of the entry.)

( me raging about how men just DON'T GET IT )

Anyway. I did follow this crap to a link to Anti-Comics-Feminist Bingo, which is brilliant. (I'm not really a comics reader, but these arguments pop up everywhere.) It's got more detailed explanations here.

jaydk, drujan, and I went to see Spiderman III together, and afterward jaydk told us about this rule, which I forget the name of, that asks whether a movie passes the following test: does it have 1) at least two women, who 2) talk to each other 3) about something besides a man.

We started going through our favorite movies and TV shows and realized that almost none of them even come close to passing this test. (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Spiderman, Pirates... I could go on.) Buffy, at least, passes it. But it's so incredibly depressing to realize how much doesn't.

In large part this is because so many writers, when creating an ensemble, treat male as the default, with a variety of personality types within it, and then throw in one token "girl" as if "the girl" is the only personality type a woman could have. Girl-Wonder.org actually has a really great article about how to write female characters well. I know so many well-meaning but clueless male writers who could benefit from this.

Perhaps I'm feeling overly sensitive to this stuff due to recent experiences...

Oh yeah, and then there's this FanLib thing (which is also all over metafandom), in which a bunch of male venture capitalist creeps are trying to profiteer off of fandom. I can't even begin to say how repulsive this is, on so very many levels, but luckily practically everyone in fandom already been posting about how much it sucks. It... just... see, I get inarticulate with rage.

I guess that what sickens me most is that it takes away literally EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD about fandom: ( do you want to read yet another fan bitching about FanLib? )

I know I'm way behind the times in posting about all this, but I'm trying to catch up and I couldn't help ranting after reading all this crap...


On the plus side, I'm off to see Pirates 3 tonight. At least there's still some good stuff in the world. :P

Man, you don't read LiveJournal for a few days, and you miss all kinds of exciting things.

I'm not sure what's funnier, the polyamorous horse fucker or the fact that Joss Whedon still thinks he can pass Xander off as a sex symbol.

I also spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday reading Wil Wheaton's reviews of old Star Trek episodes. I'm amused by the little snippets of memory I get from having watched this show as a kid, plus Wil Wheaton is always an entertaining writer.

You know you're tired when it seems like more effort to get up and go home than to sit at work for an extra hour skimming LJ...

Things that are amusing me today:

* This wank.

My Personal Unbreakable Vow to Severus...
My Unbreakable Vow to Severus Snape

I promise to be always faithful in body and mind, and never love another man.

Don't miss the song parodies on page 22 of the comments.

* The fact that people are still sending me angry letters disagreeing with a Buffy essay I wrote four years ago. I guess it's kind of cool that it still occasionally strikes a nerve, but I should probably put some kind of warning up that I don't really care anymore and am not going to respond to a 20-page counter essay.

* I love fandom because it's the only place where Alec Trevelyan and Kronos work together to destroy London, James Bond, and Methos. And I so can't believe that I spent the last two days reading Bond/Trevelyan fic. For some reason, it had never occurred to me that there'd be fic about them, maybe because the movie came out so long ago (you mean there was fic before LiveJournal!? :P ).

My observations: there's a huge percentage of darkfic, presumably because the canon is so dark. Much of it reminds me of Spike/Angel, another pairing which blurs love and hate, villain and hero. Most of what isn't darkfic is straight up porn, and most of the porn reminds me that Repossession-style melodrama is not limited to Spander. There's very little pure crap (probably not too many 12-year-olds are drawn to writing fic about a ten-year-old Bond movie) but only a couple stories that I'd rate excellent. A lot of mediocrity, but most of its entertaining enough to read quickly. (I'm automatically skipping anything that says "OFC," or calls either man the other's "lover"). I am getting annoyed at how many stories were written apparently because people wanted to fantasize about Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean getting it on, without acknowledging either character or paying any attention to the fact that Trevelyan is full of hate and plotting to betray Bond. Way to remove all the interesting stuff about the pairing. :P

Funny, I like Sharpe way better than GoldenEye (actually, I disliked GoldenEye), but I haven't been inspired to read much Sharpe fic. Maybe because the canon's already satisfying, whereas GoldenEye has great ingredients (deep friendship and devastating betrayal between two ultra-hot action heroes) that it doesn't do much with on the level of character exploration--it's practically begging for fanfic.


Also, what was up with Veronica Mars last night? (I had it on in the background, because I'm not Officially Watching it.) Veronica Mars: patron show for the "I'm not a feminist, but I sure love having rights!" crowd. Seriously, what's with this cynical POV that says it's great to have social justices, but that we'll incessantly mock anyone actually cares enough about these issues to try to do something about them? I suppose activists are easy to mock, because they're the type of people who care passionately about something and don't try to hide it, but honestly, have any of these writers ever met a feminist? Most of us are capable of logic--and some of us even have senses of humor (!!).

Anyway. But the Logan plotline was entertaining. You really can't have too much angsty Logan... if only those other characters didn't keep getting in the way. My favorite thing about the show is the Echolls family, and I'm highly annoyed that most of them have been killed off, so I'm glad the writers have brought in another, even through cheesetastic long-lost-brother means. Hopefully he'll show up again.

Seriously. I get at least one of these a month.

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
[name removed to protect the innocent] on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 12:22:42
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

comments: Hello Spike.
My name is Celena, i am 13 years old and i wondering if you could send a autografh to me? I lives in Sweden and i have write a book
abot you and Angel, you see that i am in love with a guy i think is VERY sexiii and the book´ name is: Love?? Vampirelife?? It its
come out to the world you maby could read it??
You will reconice it, i promes.... And i love when you are a vampire!! Yeah thats it´s i hope you will read my book!
And my adress is:
[name and address removed]
63343 Eskilstuna
Sweden
Thanxx!

In other news: JetBlue, I hate you.

A funny post about fangirls.

Great post about history/interpretation/narrative.

I'm still all achy from that Audioslave mosh pit. Stupid drunk assholes.

Watched a bit of Queer as Folk last night, and realized that I've become an actual B/M shipper. I suppose this is a result of all the discussion and fic-reading I've engaged in recently. This was the first time I've watched the show from this perspective, and it was weird. In this episode, Michael snuck away from Dr. Asshole to bring Brian junk food and get drunk, because Brian got accused of sexual harrassment. They were so adorable together OMG!

Not that I expect them to be together on the show or anything, I just enjoy watching them. And reading fic about them. (I keep getting bits of Chase's story confused with canon, which makes sense; I've read it three times, and seen the series only once.) I'm the same with Remus/Sirius--I love them together, but no expectations, duh.

I was never really a shipper with Spike. I'd read anything as long as it was written well... though I became a bit of an anti-S/B shipper at the end there. Well, and I've got a bit of a S/A kink--not that I'd ever want them together, I hate Angel, but good S/A fic can be so hot (for the exact same fucked-up power dynamic reasons that I'd never actually approve of the relationship).

I saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Friday. It was mediocre, though it had some funny bits; at least it wasn't bad. Zaphod was funny, probably the best part, along with the little clips from the Guide. The tacked on love story was nauseating. Marvin was stupidly designed, but Alan Rickman was good. Whenever he spoke, I imagined a teenage Snape.

My roommate called today and said he's moving out. I don't even have the energy to be upset. Anyone want to come live in the East Village in a small expensive apartment with two cats and a Brian/Michael shipper?

Yeah, didn't think so. Off to Craigslist....

Tonight, I plan to get drunk on Mexican beer.

This morning I had to give my roommate a lecture about how if he's going to use my dishes, he has to wash them and put them away afterward, not leave them dirty and sitting on my kitchen counter for three days.

I hate this. I feel like I'm babysitting a teenage boy instead of living with another adult.

But hey, at least he's rarely home.

I've been re-reading chase820's story, The Man Who Wasn't There, which is so good it hurts. I read it the first time without knowing who Brian was, so obviously I'm getting a lot more out of it now. I've been checking out a few other QaF stories, but this is by far the most satisfying. (If you somehow missed it, it's a QaF/AtS crossover, which is sort of Brian/Michael and Spike/Angel, but is building toward Spike/Brian. Squee!)

I finished Queer as Folk season four, but I'm blocking it from my mind, so I will not mention it again. I should've just thrown the $96 in the gutter.

I've been rewatching season one for the third time. ( on re-watching season one and realizing I can't stand most of the characters )

Anyway. But I love the Brian stuff, and especially Brian's interactions with Michael. It just hits, like, every character and relationship kink I have. Brian's refusal to conform, his insistence on being who he is no matter what anyone else says, even his ability to use and manipulate others in order to get what he wants. His shamelessness: his refusal to play the silly little cultural games that we're all taught--he's so honest. I love that he won't say he's sorry when he's not, and I adore his disregard for religion. I love his lack of interest in pomp and ceremony, his repulsion toward marriage and domesticity. I love that when he cares about someone, he shows it through his actions, instead of through bullshit sentimental hearts and flowers romantic nonsense. I love that he has his own code, his own integrity, and lives by it.

And now I attempt to psychoanalyze Brian. It's fun! Read it and join in.

( Brian Kinney as disillusioned idealist )

Writercon rocked. I miss everyone so much. And I *so* don't want to wait two years before I see any of you guys again. *sniffle*

So let's see. I'm going to throw together some kind of little con report here, but I'm veerrrry tired so I can't promise that I'll remember everything.

( Tuesday )

( Wednesday )

( Thursday )

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

( Monday )

( Tuesday )

Overall, I totally loved the con, even though Vegas was icky and the hotel sucked. The panels were thought-provoking and well done, and the people were just wonderful. I'm so glad I got to meet everyone that I did. In particular, it was great to spend time with irfikos, inobunny, witling, _jolielaide, and saussy.

The con itself ran so smoothly, and was so perfectly done. I mean, it was clear that the organizers were there to make sure everyone had the best experience possible. They were totally in it to make it the best con possible, not to make money or fame for themselves. I'm so proud that these people, most of whom I've known since I got into fandom, managed to pull off Writercon and make it such an astounding success. And I'm so proud that our fandom has such amazing, interesting, talented, brilliant people.

My regrets: I wish I'd gone to more panels. I wish there had been longer and more specific panels (maybe character, pairing, show, or era specific somehow?) since my interest in the Jossverse is mostly Spike and male/male slash specific at this point. And because a more specific panel would be able to go in depth even further, which was really when things get interesting.

I met tons of neat people, but with a con this big, I guess you're bound to miss a few. I'm sad that I somehow managed to miss talking to many cool folks that I wanted to see (like fallowdoe, rahirah, shadowlass, fenchurche, Cynthia Martin, and several others). I'm sad that I was only able to speak very briefly with some people (especially members of the concom, who I know were insanely busy). And I really felt the absence of those who couldn't attend, especially kita0610, anniesj, and circe_tigana.

But those are just tiny regrets compared to the complete awesomeness of this con. Man, I so don't want to wait two years for another one. :*(

Psst ...

Note to drujan: You must go read thedeadlyhook's LJ. You will love her perceptive commentary on the Buffyverse, particularly on Buffy. She's also the one who wrote those wonderful reviews at Just Stake Me.

Note to soulmate815: The wonderful Spike & Joyce story I was telling you about is DeNile by indri. (If anyone else out there hasn't read this one yet, go read it! It's one of my favorite stories ever.)

Yesterday I bought 20 postcards at a gift shop near me ($.35 each) and spent two hours writing notes on all of them, to various people at Fox, ME, UPN, TNT, and certain media outlets. Just need to get postcard stamps tomorrow and I'm set. Now, c'mon everyone, you too. Just pick up some postcards; you'll find addresses here among many other places.

I bought my ticket to the Creation Buffy/Angel con in Jersey in March. Looking forward to seeing rockgoddes and redeem147 and others there. :)

To do:
Figure out if I'm going to Toronto Trek or not
(If so) figure out Toronto Trek hotel room/roommate situation
(If so) get Toronto Trek plane tickets

Figure out how long I want to stay in Vegas
Reserve WriterCon hotel room
Find WriterCon roommates
Get WriterCon plane tickets

I think jaydk is going to handle our DragonCon hotel and airfare, but I must check with her about it.

I spent four hours tonight in the most boring class ever. We watched this movie that was so boring I couldn't *stand* it. I started braiding strands of my hair into little braids, and then braiding the little braids into bigger braids, because I couldn't sit still.

I forget the name of the movie; it was from 1969 and was about a psychologist who talks crazy women into having sex with him (or not) and films it all with a hidden camera. All you see is clips from the hidden camera. Mostly it's these weird women jumping around naked and screeching, and lots of really irritating pretentious selfish people talking about nothing.

Sudden change of topic...

So, let's review:

Action: Giles and Jenny start to get back together after a period of separation
Result: Jenny dies horribly

Action: Angel gets his soul back, reunites with Buffy, she tells him she loves him
Result: Angel dies horribly

Action: Joyce's romantic life starts to pick up, she gets flowers from a suitor
Result: Joyce dies

Action: Tara and Willow have a happy reunion after months of separation
Result: Tara dies horribly

Action: Buffy finally admits to Spike that she loves him
Result: Spike dies horribly

( AtS S5 spoilers )

As much as I admit that Joss Whedon's shows are some of the best on television, he's got his own formula and it's pretty damn predictable.

I also sort of wonder what this means. People start to get together romantically, and misery ensues. Is it a negative comment on romance? Sex = death?

Or is just a way to drive the knife in as deeply as possible, make it hurt extra when the person dies because we see how much promise their life had? Which is kind of disturbing on a couple of levels. First, the implication that a death isn't quite so meaningful if the person's life wasn't full of promise when the person died. Second that romantic love = your life's potential. Romance gives life meaning? Why does romance signify happiness/potential?

The only time I can remember significant death where this didn't happen was with Jonathan and Anya. (Though it's debatable whether the writers even considered Anya's death significant. And she does get back with Xander shortly before, but that's not her big poignant moment, which is her realization about humanity blah blah blah.) In their cases, we saw how much they'd grown as people, and that's what made their deaths hurt so much. I like that method better, though, because the poignance is emphasized by showing who they are and how they've grown as individuals, not just because they're romantically involved with someone.

Meh. I'm just babbling because I'm tired, and it's too much effort to go get ready for bed, and I really ought to update my website before I go to sleep ...

Speaking of which, visits to my site went *way* up this week. I guess it's the Angel cancellation publicity? *cries*

And speaking of that, there are big ads for "One Tree Hill" and "Smallville" all over my neighborhood, and all over the NYU area. No ads for "Angel," though. Gee, maybe the *lack of promotion* could have something to do with that show's comparitively smaller ratings?

And speaking of Smallville, could that show possibly be any more lame? I retract every nice thing I've said about it. The last few episodes have been like bad after school specials. I love Lex, and Lionel, but the minimal time they get is so not worth it.

Totally random topic change again...

Oh, hey, check it out. My dad sent me pictures of my babies cats. Aren't they wonderful? The white one is Vanilla, who is 18 years old and very bossy. The striped one is Angel (named before the TV character existed!) who my dad calls "Penny" and everyone else calls "The Devil Cat." She is insane. Lucifer, the youngest, isn't pictured, because he thinks he's dog and the others wouldn't deign to let him hang out with them.

( Angel and Vanilla )

We had a conversation at work the other day which reminded me what a freak I am. We're writing this book about our favorite vegan products (don't ask, it's not my idea) and we have to all write something about whatever products we like. I suggested that we all write down our ideas privately, in a database-like thing, and then we can reply to each other, sort of like LJ comments. Converse in writing. Everyone else said, no, let's just have a meeting, talk out loud, and someone can transcribe it.

That idea is horrible to me. I would do sooo much better writing on my own than talking in person. In person I'm quiet and inarticulate and totally unable to communicate well. In writing I'm so much more able to say what I mean. (Not that I'm great in writing, but much much better than in person.)

Which reminds me that my colloquium is coming up. Oh, god, panic. ( boring school stuff )

Now. Must find something to archive before bed.... Oh, I know! Doyle said I could archive her secret slasha fic. Okay ... off to archive.

Well, these are supposed to be unpopular opinions, right? So I'm going all out and I'm not going to sugarcoat and qualify. Something here is liable to offend, well, probably everyone, so don't get upset if you, y'know, get upset.

( 10 unpopular opinions about fan behavior )

( 10 unpopular opinions about the actual show(s) )

I'm a Spike fan. Not an Angel fan. Not a Buffy fan. A Spike fan. Spike is the character that I find interesting and intriguing and fun to watch. I would not be watching either show if he wasn't on it. If he ceased to be on it, I would stop watching.

I find most of the other characters at best only mildly interesting, and at worst, tiresome and irritating. I think that some of the plots are interesting, and a lot of them aren't. The ME brand of "feminism" makes me violently ill and I'd never watch another of their shows again if I didn't want to see Spike. Spike is actually the only fictional character I care about enough to watch TV for; without him I'd probably get rid of my television and not miss it.

So what if my character's not in the title? I'm not going to rearrange my preferences and pretend to be interested in characters that I don't care about just because they're the supposed "real" central characters.

You think this makes me a bad fan? Fuck off. I don't need your approval, and there is nothing wrong with watching for one character.