Simon Woods did a decent job of making Octavian seem, if not actually regretful, conscious and even concerned in his own way, of the damage he realizes he's done to his mother and sister. He's still about as shit at social interaction as he was as a child. 'How's Octavia?' YOU DON'T REALLY HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW, BUCKO. Too bad you totally screwed them over, huh? Kind of burnt your bridges there, honey. And his behavior after the dinner--was that the first time he realized exactly what his position with them was? It doesn't seem possible.

I did love that little interaction with Octavian:
'No, I was all sweetness and light with her.'
'Yes, that is your most disheartening manner.'

BECAUSE IT KIND OF IS.

Cleopatra's portrayal is a major fail, and the portrayal of the Egyptian court is contemptibly ridiculous.

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Current Mood: listless

Neither Fictional nor Real:

So, Hollywood. Take a power structure of people who are willfully ignorant and unwilling to deal with people as people, as well as making concentrated efforts to keep us from having access to venues to tell our stories.

The argument "it's only fiction" really can only apply if you have context to understand the difference between fiction and reality. And, it's also interesting that we're not allowed to tell EITHER our fictions OR our realities, but that others get the right to do that for us, and seem amazed as if we stepped out of a comic book or something when we demand the right to tell our stories.

And it's always interesting how one group profits in reality for making fantasy about another and that group is never us.

Current Mood: cranky

All mental points awarded to Rome are revoked. Totally, permanently and irrevocably revoked. Infinite, infinite fail.

I mean, there were some hints previously. The conspicuous casting of Eirene vs Gaia, the skewed amount of white to darker characters in villainous/antagonist roles, the gender!fail inherent in Vorena's portrayal--she's made a prostitute, her attempt to reclaim her sexuality leads to terrible things, and she's redeemed by swearing herself chaste to a goddess. (Oh screw you, show.) Not to mention Atia's obsession with the bottom feeder.

And now their portrayal of Cleopatra.

Cleopatra was a powerful, political, canny queen, reputedly the only Ptolomeic ruler to have actually learnt the Egyptian language. She and Egypt did not exist merely as some subnote to Rome, as some ~exotic~ place all about debauchery and corruption of those fine Roman men. I was nearly nauseated at the whole scene where she had to be 'schooled' by some condescending bastard of a Roman soldier--a woman who grew up in a cutthroat family, ascended to the throne at eighteen, raised a rebellion and won an alliance that raised her once more to the throne, a woman who is intimately familiar with murderous politics.

And yet in Rome, somehow she turns into a completely amoral, depraved druggie who proclaims herself a 'slave' of Caesar and then seems to have nothing to do but sleep with and be rabidly possessive of Anthony as opposed to, say, running her country.

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Current Mood: pissed off

Name your 15 absolutely favorite couples (het/slash/canon/fanon) and ask people to see what trends they notice about your couples. Try to pick different fandoms. Picked up from lucifuge5 I HAVE LOTS MORE. But these are the ones that came into mind first. I also narrowed it down by picking only the ones that had definite, confirmed basis in canon.

1. Chiara/The Bear (The Wolf King)
2. Regeane/Maeniel (The Silver Wolf)
3. Leetah/Cutter (Elfquest)
4. Dante Valentine/Tierce Japhrimel (Working for the Devil)
5. Chihiro/Haku (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)
6. Sunshine/Constantine (Sunshine)
7. Jill Kismet/Saul (Dante Valentine)
8. Kamiya Kaoru/Himura Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)
9. Allen Walker/Rinali Li (D.Grayman)
10. Jaenelle Angelline/Daemon Sadi (Black Jewels)
11. Keiko Yukimura/Yusuke Urameshi (YuYu Hakusho)
12. Kaylin Neya/Severn (Michelle Sagara's Cast series)
13. Bonnie McCullough/Damon Salvatore (The Vampire Diaries)
14. Vesper Lynd/James Bond (Casino Royale)
15. Anita Blake/her awesome (early Anita Blake books)
...what do you mean, that doesn't count? Okay, fine, have an extra: 16. Sesshoumaru/Rin (Inuyasha)

...apparently I like a lot of relationships where there's equality, but the girls are unequivocably in charge. Especially when the boys are a bit dangerous/amoral/etc.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/64274.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: amused

On rewatching Transformers: God, Sam is such a fucking sleaze. We're supposed to be rooting for some asshole who would dump his friend in the middle of nowhere just so he can make the moves on some complete stranger?

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/64036.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: disgusted

So it's that time of year for wish lists and such. I'm trying to save them as I go, but feel free to link me to your wishlist as I would like to do something small for any of you if I can. As usual, because I'm poor, I tend to keep my list fannish/creative because that's all I really can return. And it's the small things that always make me happy anyway.

so onto it...

( wishlist rules... )

( And my ten wishes - know that world peace is always an understood wish... )

Again, I wish I could do things like buy y'all books and such, but I'm broke as broke could be, so I try to stick to the small things and don't ask more of that than anyone else.

Current Mood: cheerful

Okay, so. I've tried to restraint my anger with the Rome fandom to a few tamped-down comments here and there. But it's not going away, so here's my space to scream and rage a bit. Feel free to ignore this post.

( Read more... )

Not that there isn't a perfectly simple explanation. There is! And it's that in fandom, manly angst takes precedence over women's actual suffering and trauma.

SCREW YOU ALL.

ETA: ...I feel a little better now.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/63590.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: enraged

Thoughts on Rome: Vorena makes me cry. She is, in my opinion, both the bravest and the most tragic of the characters on the show, and I love her, and what she goes through makes me want to cry. And I'm glad that despite the focus on the male characters, the show doesn't once make me feel as if she should be blamed. (Unlike the show's fans.)

On Merlin: I LOVE FREYA KIND OF A LOT. A WHOLE LOT. **criiiies**

( from comment on camelot_fleet. spoilers )

Current Mood: sad

Can we goddamn fucking well get rid of the "female characters used only to advance/influence male characters' plot/emotions?"

From tavella:

But... I'm just not very optimistic, because the real problems I have with the show are less with character arcs and plot holes (though they don't help), but underlying principles. The constant gender!fail -- when a producer bursts into laughter at the suggestion that Morgana and Gwen could have their own episode, that's not a sign anyone is thinking it's a problem. And of course, the whole having Arthur leading the slaughter of a village and then thinking it doesn't even have to be addressed.

Current Mood: cynical

On rereading The Vampire Diaries: I love how the explanation for why, in the end, Elena is not at all afraid of Stefan basically boils down (from somewhat flowery terms, as Stefan is a bit of a sap regarding Elena) to 'she totally tops and she knows it.'

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/62722.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: amused

This was too predictable:

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

I LOVE AND ENDORSE THIS SENTIMENT.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/62621.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: gleeful

Title: No Escape
Challenge/Prompt: #29 Midnight
Original Fiction or Fanfiction [Name of fandom]: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Characters/Pairings: Anzu/Atemu
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or it's sandbox. I am just here to play with the toys and create my own alternate reality. :D
Summary: As midnight drew closer, Anzu tries to escape Atemu's possessiveness.
Author's Notes: I have no idea exactly where my muse came up with this one. I can only fathom she wanted something somewhat dark.




( No Escape )

Current Mood: tired

Found on DW's Metafandom comm, An entry about naming muses and nicknaming fics, I have decided to open a discussion about the subject here on IJ.

Do y'all name your muses? Do you have nicknames for your fics?

( And stuff!! )

Current Mood: amused

So last week I posted about the Archive Of Our Own, which if you missed it is being called AO3 because AOOO sounds like a basset hound. But I didn't really post as a reader. It didn't occur to me because I had just spent several days uploading all of my fanfiction there. (Well, that I still like. I actually do have two Greek mythology fics that I haven't posted there, but the second one is a sequel to the first, which was written in high school and has some gender issues I'm really not proud of.)

Anyway, after all that posting, I had kind of expected people to read my fic, but I hadn't actually gotten around to reading their fic.

And omg you guys, AO3 is great for fic-reading. At least for me.

( AO3 as a reader. )

Anyway. Having said all that, Chapter Seven of Between Here and Now and Forever is posted on:
The Archive Of Our Own
FanFiction.Net
Skyhawke
LiveJournal

In honor of this, ( more YouTube music links! )

So I am using this one because it is fun. :3 :3 ;3

Dear Muses,

Now that I'm starting on the Zero Princess Saga/Void Space Saga/Whatever the hell you want to call this series, Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, turn this into Viceroyverse done Kairi/Rinoa Style.

Please. I don't care how well it works, I don't care that it works on a multitude of levels. I don't care if it'd be cute (and about a quarter as creepy as Quistis/Kairi is!). I don't care if it makes a lot more sense than any other Kairi pairing in existence, Sora/Kairi included. But the Nonsense of Sora/Kairi is another show rant. Aaaanyway, no one would read it.

Even if it is a really good idea--

No. No. If you try and steer it in that direction, and we know that the one-sided Rinoa/Kairi in Braceletverse is enough, I will turn this brain around and write...umm...

I WILL MAKE US WRITE MPREG. SORA/KAIRI MPREG. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES!?

No love,
Jordi.

Current Mood: hungry

Whenever someone says Jo was 'too immature'--ostensibly in general but, it is fairly easy to discern, meaning 'for Dean'--I have to laugh. By anyone's estimate, Jo Harvelle is a great deal more mature than Dean Winchester.

Let's see...wants to strike out on her own, seems perfectly capable of it. Doesn't collect venereal diseases like stamps. Behaves with maturity, is self-contained, isn't a total sleaze. Independent, quick and clever, capable...although Dean may have those qualities, too.

Just--can't you shut up now that [spoiler] has happened?.

Supernatural has been leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth for far too long. It's amazing how you run into this stuff when you no longer have the slightest amount of interest in the canon and never had an interest in the fanon.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/62250.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: aggravated

I have been watching Rome.

Surprise! I am fond of it. It is, in some ways, all about the menz, but the female characters are fabulous, despite the fact that their lives seem to revolve around the male characters--I think that's not unreasonable for the time period. There was--GODDAMNIT--what I would definitely classify as a fridging, but I'm hanging on for the other women. I don't actually know that there are any male characters besides season 1 Octavian where I'm actually interested in finding out what happens to them, never mind liking them. The fandom corners I've dipped my toes in are full of raging misogyny--how dare she be angry with the man that caused her mother's death! How dare she try to move on and pursue a life of her own after her husband's death! Bitch, slut, whore, etc--as to be expected, I suppose. But I love the way the show never makes me feel as though I'm intended to blame Niobe for her choices, or Eirene or Vorena for their anger. And while male characters are shown as sympathetic after doing terrible things, female characters are too. Which is really cool.

The sets are pretty fantastic, and I'm told that it goes to great lengths for historical accuracy. I think they do a really good job of making the characters' certain outdated views understandably their own without supporting it textually, which far too many shows/movies fall into doing.

My favorite characters are Eirene and Octavia, but even the female characters I find reprehensible are fascinating. The male characters are well written as well, but a lot of the qualities I'm intended to find interesting and sympathetic fall flat.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/62178.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: good

Title: Dain af Niohoggr
Author: GW Katrina
Beta: Skeren
Fandom: FFVII: Mercverse
Claim: mercverse for story_arc
Themeset/Prompt: Thirty Set 01: Balance
Wordcount: 1,717
Ratings: PG-13
Link to Archive Post: Here


( Dain af Niohoggr )

"If" Black Women Were White Women"

Written, apparently, in the style of 'What if Men Could Menstruate' by Gloria Steinem. To quote fiction_theory: There is some discussion of sexual assault in the essay - but I feel it is worth it.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/61865.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Current Mood: impressed