Fanfic50

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...

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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.

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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

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"Ames," she said, laying a tender hand on his shoulder and beaming up at him. "I love you. Truly, I do. But if you ever presume to make life-altering decisions for me again, I will personally shove you into a meat packing machine."

"Amen," Clio said without ever looking up from Cosmopolitan.

...can you tell I was just reading a review of Twilight?

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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.

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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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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.

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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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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.'

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I LOVE AND ENDORSE THIS SENTIMENT.

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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.

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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.

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"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.

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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**

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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)

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