Lethal Empathy

Now that I actually think about it, reading The Story of O at age ten may have had some effect.

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You know another thing I love about Anne Bishop's books?

I love the role reversals. Men are stigmatized by rape, an attempt at rape, or the accusation of rape--INSTEAD OF WOMEN, THE VICTIMS. Women are viewed as the more stable gender; men are the ones who are in the position of 'overemotional' and 'hysterical.' Which is funny because it is a reversal of the way our society views us, but the behavior is not at all unrealistic for our culture, just amplified by magical excuses the way scientists put a microscope over bacteria. Look at this. Think about it. Women are the providers and protectors, not men. Men are in the social position of 'tempering' the women (this isn't as explicit as other reversals, but Falonar tells Surreal 'yeah, we do the grunt work because you guys are SO MUCH SCARIER when you get pissed off' and that draws parallels to the gendered views of parenting--the mother manages most of it and the father does the discipline.) The very way the story is told is a reversal in its own way; it's the story of the men only inasmuch as it is the story of how Jaenelle affects their lives.

Yes, we have Terreille, where there's the flip side to that--the negative one--but we also have decent male rulers in our world, and downright evil ones. It's reality, cast into fictionalized relief, emphasized by the support of the magic and manipulation to throw it into bold unignorable prominence.

I really, really loved her handling of the rut. Especially since I read a lot of supernatural stories, and even the ones that aren't romance novels screw this up consistently. Yes, she says, men have lusts, sure, and powerful physical urges, blah blah blah. But this does not even begin to make it okay. No, not even when it's all magical and shit! Considering that's a particularly rage inducing and deeply ingrained misogynistic part of our culture, that was beautiful to read.

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THE FANFICTION LOVE MEME

I'm gonna give it a try?

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These Black Jewels FSTs are just gorgeous. I haven't finished the downloads, but the lyrics fit perfectly.

Twilight Rhapsody - five songs about Witch (scroll down)

These Castles and Dreams - Wilhelmina Benedict

Black Jewels Trilogy - fan soundtrack (zip not working, but the lyrics are still worth perusing.)

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I was thinking thoughts about the media's treatment of celebrities--specifically female celebrities, prompted by the treatment of Megan Fox.

They at once expect and demand these celebrities to surrender private lives and display their desires, tastes, thoughts and opinions, and at the same time demand that these thoughts, tastes and opinions fall in line with the media's image of 'acceptable.' And I think we're all familiar with the media's image of acceptable--racism, sexism, ableism, heterosexism, the list goes on--so when Megan Fox shows that she's not only comfortable with her sexuality but not a demure/contained/controlled woman, they reject her. Spectacularly. And all those either threatened or sheeplike enough to follow do, and there's a huge percent of the population that is sheeplike in its adherence to 'the TV said so' or threatened by a sexy young woman who knows her own mind and is honest about it.

Whatever. She's awesome.

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Kink Bingo's December challenge: ohhh, it is so good to me. Yuletide fandoms up for grabs!

...although, as I look through them, they are slightly less delicious than last round. Last round I was looking through the leftover prompts and I kept going 'ooh, I haven't thought of that one in ages but I sure could write it!' Still, plenty of yum.

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Someone writes a whole huge essay titled The Lust Arc = IchiHime FAIL which, among other priceless gems of logic, claims that because soppy displays of concern were not made in the midst of a battleground, they TOTES DON'T CARE ABOUT EACH ENOUGH (FOR ME).

I'm not going to address the shipping, because I don't really 'ship in this series and I don't care. What I am going to address if the fact that because a young woman who made an enormously brave choice to sacrifice herself asked for help after an extended period of time where she was isolated, threatened, terrified and had her head fucked with, they explicitly equate her with evil cannibalistic spirits.

I cannot believe I ever even skim the surface of this fandom. I am also not capable of resounding-enough rude gestures over the internet. But it is, in my elegance and eloquence, all I have to offer, because I am still trying not to dissolve into obscenities over rage-inducing things.

I REALLY REALLY NEED SOMETHING LESS RAGE-INDUCING. SOMETHING. ANYTHING.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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From twitter:

Baronetess, aka our KBella: 2,333 views on the New Moon spoof. That's word.

Me: @baronetess - I'm going out to subject more people to our creation. And by "more people" I might mean "bellydance superstars."

newageamazon: @acaseofrandom YOU ARE NOT SHOWING THAT VIDEO TO RACHEL BRICE.

~~

Dear bacon-cheesy jeebus, this weekend was awesome. I kept up with the Rachel Brice seminar, then I overloaded on Mardi Love's subsequent seminar and ended up in the back of the room with a bunch of other overloaded people, muttering on about how this was not Sparta and I was lost. The show on Saturday night was ridiculous--and possibly the biggest turnout for a bellydance show I've seen in the Pittsburgh area. And Zoe Jakes brainsquished the hell out of me on Sunday with the variants of pops & locks, then with the how-to of her choreography from the night before.

Also, I can still walk. I'm astounded. Apparently working out worked for me.

I'm not sure I expected them all to be so personable. Mardi made faces back when I made faces at her and I kept my hands to myself this time, Rachel struck funny poses (and got photobombed) and made terrible jokes and randomly kissed me on the cheek RACHEL BRICE KISSED ME, and Zoe told stories of boobies and misbehavior and fire-setting at Burning Man--stories which, if she follows through and comes to Pennsic, will result in us making the Pyro Pirate Party. And possibly in us getting kicked out for stealing golf carts and/or setting things on fire.

God, I hope she comes to Pennsic.

~~

Also, Pittsburgh's Southside being what it is on the weekends, I got to watch a drunk douchebag assault a city bus. The show started with him standing in the middle of the crosswalk like some smashed, overly territorial pigeon, yelling at nothing. No words--just yelling.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Someone went out and tried to move him before the light could turn. He resisted, squirmed loose, and kept yelling.

"AAAAAAAHHH! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The would-be savior left, a bus pulled up at a nearby lane . . . and the kid launched himself at it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

At first he just waved his arms at it--then flattened himself to its windshield and slapped the glass. Still yelling. The light turned, but for some reason no one moved.

"AAAAAAAH! AAAAAAHHH!"

This is about the point where the cops pulled up.

For some reason, this is also about the point where the kid got very quiet.

They tried to guide him off the street, he resisted, one pointed a taser at him, he bolted--and immediately hit the concrete. Last I saw they were cuffing him. Snarky commentary was provided by me, random street musicians, and a panhandler. ("Don't tase him, bro!"--"Tase him, bro!")

~~

Also: The cheery take on fmylife.com is itmademyday.com. I won't say it because it'd be redundant. :P

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.

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Apropos of exactly nothing, this is my Anita Blake.

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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

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"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

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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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I love Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

Now I love 'em even more as RiffTrax. "Twighlight; cooly calculated to satisfy your screaming demographic." XD

.

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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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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