Calamari Icons !

Ask Amy tells rape victims they did it to themselves. Any words I would have for this are obscene and full of hate, and I'm trying to cut down on that.

Mike Briggs eloquently debunks the popular arguments supporting piracy one by one.

an NYT article on female desire.

Patrick Stewart on domestic violence. Beautiful.

fiction_theory's lovely post about and containing links concerning the relationships between agents and new writers. Specifically it contains a link to this remark by an agent:

I rejected a manuscript that I had been seriously considering last week because upon a cursory online search, I found a LiveJournal post by the author badmouthing me and several of my colleagues for what she thought were excessive response times. Well, that blog post cost her representation from at least one agent. (OH, and it was a LOCKED LiveJournal post. You do know that Google Reader doesn't respect locked posts, right? Well, you do now.)

I feel like 'mind your damn manners jesus christ' should be sort of an acknowledged constant--ever heard of common courtesy, people? Especially in this type of scenario when you are asking a stranger to take a leap of faith. But entitlement, I have noted, is heavy in many young in America.

Also LOCKED POSTS ARE UNPROTECTED AAAAAAAH **terrified**

ETA: Falconesse with the math behind Harlequin’s vanity press: how many books you’d have to sell to break even, hidden costs, and the like. Recommended reading for anyone who wants to self-publish, vanity publish, or get published.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/68349.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Glee: Hairography

So let me get this straight: those precious abled Glee kids singing over another choir is supposed to be fucking heartwarming?

You know what would happen outside of TV land, if you just started singing over another choir's performance? Nothing good, let me assure you. How fucking rude and entitled can these people be? So now treating performers with complete disrespect and undermining their efforts is 'progressive?' Fuck you, Glee.

Not to mention my disgust with the epilepsy joke.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/68036.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Legend of the Seeker: now with 500% more delicious femslash! APPROVED. Okay, it's all subtext, but let me dream.



I've been reading books about World War II and the Vietnam war. Not the most pleasant, upbeat or rejuvenating of subject material. I feel a little worn out.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/67662.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Procrastination: it does beautiful or maybe just crazy things.

bishoptoqueen: a fan community for old school Anita Blake. Because I miss her. Probably no one will join but what the hell, it'll be fun to play in.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/67369.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Apropos of exactly nothing, this is my Anita Blake.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/67092.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

NAME A FANDOM AND I'LL TELL YOU MY:

• One True Pairing Ship
• Canon Ship
• "If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork" Ship
• "You are one sick bastard" Ship
• "I dabble a little" Ship
• "It's like a car crash" Ship
• "Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet" Ship
• "Makes no canon sense but why the hell not" Ship
• "Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it" Ship

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/66867.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Mads is just as fierce and indomitable since the last time I iconed him, two years ago. I love his salt-and-pepper hair. The skeletal bone structure. The cheekbones that could cut me like a knife. The wolfish eyes. I love him.

MADS MIKKELSEN


( 125 BELOW THE CUT. )

( 5 banners. )

"That's because I love you." She looked both mutinous and mulish at the same time. "But don't let it give you any ideas. I'm my father's daughter, and I won't just throw myself away on just any wandering evil spirit. I'll expect some assurances, something more in the line of a settlement than just a lot of airy promises."

I LOVE HER

SO MUCH

&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts&hearts &hearts

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/66649.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Review - Jennifer's Body

Jennifer's Body is a tale of two movies, not of maintext versus subtext but two seperate movies fighting for dominance in which, ultimately, the oft-told (and tired) conventional one wins.

This basically sums up my feelings with the movie.

I enjoyed a lot of it. The actresses were very good--Megan Fox gave a lot to the character that the script didn't--and the visuals were pretty cool, but in the end it was just as disappointing as I expected it to be, if not more. That's a good review, though, without much spoilers, so if you're curious...

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/66454.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I effing love Amanda Peet. I always group her together with Piper Perabo in my mind, but have no idea why. Is it the big lips? The sunny smile? The 90s movies? I DO NOT KNOW.

AMANDA PEET


( 75 BELOW THE CUT. )

( 1 banner. )

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got a whole bunch of books today. Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and two lovely, gorgeous, mouth-watering Lilith Saintcrow books. And two completely new ones!

One novel about a girl who loves the ocean very very much who finds out she's not quite human and her town isn't quite normal and is happy about it (and is also pretty neat, from my readings so far) and one novel about a highly proper Victorian spinster who kills vampires and compares their deaths to a souffle going flat. It is awesome so far.

All is well.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/66229.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

In my Astronomy lab today, we devolved into a discussion of reality, and time as a measure, and the theory about how if we as 3-dimensional objects cast 2-dimensional shadows, we could be 3-dimensional shadows of 4-dimensional objects.

I--

AWESOME

I CANNOT STOP SMILING

THAT CONCEPT MAKES ME SO HAPPY

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/65846.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I know it was naive. I know it was foolish. I haven't even read the books all the way through myself! But I honestly thought my shock and horror at Stephenie Meyer was tapped out; that she had gotten all of her 'WHAT THE FUCKING HELL NOOOOO's out of me.

I was wrong. Mark of Buzznet has been reviewing Twilight, and it's a fairly stress-reducing ride, at least for those that have read the books previously and are just relieved to see somebody sane react. The gifs help.

Then we get to chapter thirteen of Eclipse, where I thank the lords I didn't read it and we get to read SMeyer writing about how Mexicans are violent awful people (as opposed to the "civilized" north), and how being a vampire automatically makes you white.

Gods above and below, how the hell is this woman too fucking stupid to understand how offensive she is?

Picked up from randomsome1

I need to purge my brain of this ugliness.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/65399.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

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.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/65115.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

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.

Television Without Pity - But Racism is Dandy!

Not that I ever expected well of a site that Supernatural is heavily connected with, but hey. This is pretty nasty.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/64954.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

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.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/64560.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

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.

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.

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.

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 )

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.

Maybe not.



THE ONLY WORTHWHILE THING IN THIS SHOW. Well, Freya can stay too.

( quote that, for the moment, sum up my general feelings. more coherent post probably to come later. spoilers )

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.

I LOVE AND ENDORSE THIS SENTIMENT.

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

Now that I've actually seen the new Star Trek movie, I feel comfortable recommending jemisard's Spock/McCoy trilogy (rated PG.)

It begins with Before You're Old, in which TOS!Spock seeks out STXI!McCoy in an attempt to set right an old regret. The prequel Time Enough shows us the last days of TOS!McCoy's life, which he's chosen to spend with Spock (character death, obviously.) The last part of the trilogy is the sequel Bloom of Youth which takes place almost immediately after the events of Before You're Old. STXI!McCoy discusses with STXI!Spock the conversation just concluded with his counterpart and what impact it has to their comradeship.

This trilogy is one I'd consider a must-read for Spock/McCoy shippers, and would reccomend to non-shippers for the same reasons; jemisard's strong grasp of characterization makes the interaction between all characters a delight to read. She maintains the classic interaction between TOS Spock and McCoy, the more antagonistic and shaky version of the same with their XI counter-parts, and in doing so subtly illustrates both the similarties and differences between the four characters. Her plot is also a joy, fitting easily into the cracks between series and movie in such a way that I could easily see this happening.

Ok, dry pseudo-professional tone aside; you should totally read this. I read the trilogy when jemisard first posted it, and made the choice to see the new Star Trek movie because of how well she'd written in that 'verse. This fic convinced me to spend actual money guys, I am a skinflint this is a big deal!

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.

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.

AND FINALLY, TIME FOR A NEW BATCH! Newsflash: I am unfeasibly infatuated with James Franco, do not even get me goddamn started. Unfeasibly. This is the post that originally kept me awake tonight, aorifdageøægdfølg.

JAMES FRANCO


( 115 BELOW THE CUT. )

( 1 banner. )

It is so late. I am so tired.

SAFFRON BURROWS


( 42 BELOW THE CUT. )

Like the previous post. I might actually get around to more Jewel eventually, because she's adorable -- but in the meantime, I'm v. pleased with this batch. Mostly candids!

JEWEL STAITE


( 43 BELOW THE CUT. )

( 2 banners. )

Another "o hai, what were you doing on my HD?" -- expect a few of those posts tonight. I have a lot of small batches kicking around that I saved for later, thinking I'd eventually get around to making more -- but considering poor Famke has been wasting away for two years, I decided to finally bite the bullet & post these batches.

FAMKE JANSSEN


( 30 BELOW THE CUT. )

So while doing some hardcore e-cleaning tonight, I stumbled across these on my harddrive! And decided to post them. Because man, I find it hilarious that I iconed Craig Ferguson. (It was for someone in a game of mine, BUT STILL.)

CRAIG FERGUSON


( 25 BELOW THE CUT. )

( 2 banners. )

"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.

I'm watching an Emily Browning image community that keeps tagging entries with heaps of tags about Twilight and how she's Bella Swan, Edward is the only one for her, etc, etc.

I...actually find it really obnoxious. I'm not sure if this is obnoxious of me, in turn? I ended up commenting today. They basically replied with 'shut up, we're going to make up whatever tags we want.'

It's funny how feeling snooty can salve your worries about your own obnoxiousness. **shifty eyed**

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/61477.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

NOUN. buoyancy.
1, the force that causes objects to float. According to the principle of Archimedes, when a solid is placed in a fluid (a liquid or a gas), it is subject to an upward force equal in magnitude to the weight of the fluid it has displaced. 2, ability to recover quickly from setbacks; resilience. 3, Lightness of spirit; cheerfulness.

currently not adding;

Net Speed: 78 WPM
(words/minute)
Accuracy: 90%
Gross Speed: 86 WPM
(words/minute)

**sadface**

ETA: No wait!

Net Speed: 92 WPM
(words/minute)
Accuracy: 97%
Gross Speed: 94 WPM
(words/minute)

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/61346.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

IT'S LIKE A FREAKING TRAIN WRECK. I can't stop opening these posts about Glee. How can people defend this show? Oh wait--ignorance, all the sundry ugly -isms, privilege...

haddayr:

For the record:

1. When an old folks home has a tag sale, they do NOT have a dozen state-of-the-art rigid lightweight wheelchairs in funky colors to get rid of for nothing. The hardware they had in there, even massively used, would have paid for dozens upon dozens upon quadrillions of bus rides. Old people get piece-of-shit rundown folding chairs that are nearly impossible to push on your own.
2. When your sister has Downs? You don't hold her hand as you read her stories in precious, pwecious tears at her pathetic wretched handicapableness. You've known she had Downs your whole life. You're over feeling sorry for her, assuming you ever did, since you're her LITTLE SISTER.
3. When you are in a wheelchair and you find out that your love interest has been FAKING HER STUTTER? You are not angry because she's now "normal" and you are "stuck in this chair for the rest of your life." You are angry because she's been playing at what you actually experience. You are angry because half of the world treats you already as if you're faking it, and she really WAS faking it.
4. Noble and adorable cripples do not clasp their hands and give an "aw, shucks" look when their AB comrades in wheelchairs say: "This is for YOU," and point at them cheesily.
5. Schools that are not fully wheelchair accessible are BREAKING THE LAW. You do not have to give up your bus to pay for handicapped ramps. People do not have to write their own checks. Ramps are not provided out of the goodness of people's hearts. IT. IS. THE. MOTHERFUCKING. LAW.
6. And no one is worried about getting sued if they don't hire disabled people. Disablism in hiring practices is rampant and accepted. Threatening someone with the ACLU is a way to get yourself laughed out of the place, not immediately hired in a horrible economic climate.

This show actually had someone pretend to be disabled to get a job. The sheer breathtaking offensiveness of it is a marvel.

Also? For any idiot who wants to whine 'it's just a High School Musical soap opera TV show, you're taking it too seriously' I'd like to quote balgar

It's quite odd to assume that certain cultural products are beneath analysis. Operas, symphonies, novels in the "literature" section, and subtitled movies more than two hours long do not convey more information or perspective than thirty second commercials, top 40 singles, network television shows, or comic books. I'd say that mass-marketed, "low culture" works are less idiosyncratic in their perspective and are therefore more useful in terms of understanding the society of which they are a product.

So how about all the morons who thought writing about the ~poor hopeless needy~ disabled person without a life was a good idea watch this gorgeous piece of work?



This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/61145.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Oh! Oh! Also I would like this share this. It's something of an examination of fanfiction and original fiction, and the differences between, and I like it. It starts out by a (relatively non-spoilery) excerpt of a review of Cassandra Clare, the famous plagiarizer's, 'original' work, and expands.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/60884.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Disney FAILS. So hard.

I'd just like to quote randomsome1 on this--I don't think I could put it better if I tried--from here.

Also, it appears the publisher Harlequin has shot themselves in the nuts. They added on a new vanity publishing wing--a wing towards which authors who are rejected from their commercial branches will be funneled. Reactions seem to vary from "But self-publishing isn't bad!" (which completely ignores how this isn't self-publishing, it's vanity publishing, and yes it fucking is) to the hardcore, as the RWA (Romance Writers of America) has (have?) revoked Harlequin's recognized publisher status.

I'll be the first person to mock the romance novel section, sure--but that's still one hell of a shitty thing to do to potential authors: lure them in with an established name, reject their novel, then flip them over and shake them for whatever money may come out while telling them that this is really the best way for their career to start.

Fun times, people. Or not.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/60420.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I visited the Wing Luke Asian Museum today, and went on a guided tour of the restored and preserved sections--everything from goods in the import shop to beds in the apartments saved. It was incredible.



**sigh** I love Eva Green. She is, hands-down, my favorite actress.

This entry was originally posted at http://shiegra.dreamwidth.org/60411.html. Please comment there using OpenID.