| Princess Tutu |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|12:25 pm] |
Eeee! The Princess Tutu Cute Meme! Must write some Ahiru/Fakir.
I loved loved loved this anime. I kept coming across threads about it on 4chan and finally decided to pick it up. A-FUCKING-MAZING. It's a show about a duck. Or maybe it's a show about a duck who dreams she's a girl. Or maybe it's about a girl who can transform into ballerina with magical power. Or maybe it's all of those things. Maybe it's about the power of stories. Maybe it's about the forces of good and evil. Maybe it's about the ambiguity of the forces of good and evil. Or maybe it's all of those things. |
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[Apr. 10th, 2009|01:21 pm] |
There is a strange phenomenon in the Coraline fandom: portraying Wybie as white. For those who didn't see it, Wybie, Coraline's friend and (possible) love interest, is black. I've seen at least three pieces of CoralinexWybie fanart where he's clearly white (white with red hair, no less) or he's tan.
I've been talking it over with my boyfriend (who saw the movie with me multiple times), and he thinks that it's not a purposeful change: Wybie's race didn't leave a big impression on him (or me either), but we have terrible memories and the second time we saw Coraline, it was actually like we were seeing it for the first time because we didn't remember, like, half the movie.
Here's the scene where they meet for the first time:
I think this is incredibly, incredibly interesting. Around the same time the movie was out, RaceFail was all over LJ, and I followed it through various journals. The observation about lack of minorities in fantasy made a big impact on me -- And it relates to this white-Wybie thing.
So there are two main things about white-Wybie: Are people being intentionally racist (in that Wybie should be white since he's being paired with [a white] Coraline)? Or does Wybie not act "black" enough and thus they don't notice that he's not white? (Do white and black Americans in the same economic sphere act that differently?) I'll agree with my boyfriend that it might not be immediately obvious that Wybie's black, but I find it hard to believe that someone drawing pictures of him would simply not notice it (I mean, if you didn't remember exactly what he looked like, you'd find a picture of him as reference, right?). His race isn't important to the story - there's no racism that he has to overcome, etc - but I think it was a deliberate choice of Henry Selick (who adapted and directed the film) to make him (and his grandmother and great-aunt [who appears as a child-ghost]) black. Gaiman wrote Coraline for his daughter and Selick said that Coraline was a "girls film" (here) -- This is just my assumption, but I can see them trying to engage a minority race, too.
For reference, some of the white/tan fanart are here, here, and here. |
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[Sep. 26th, 2008|11:14 pm] |
I found this over on JF: For any romance novel readers on my FL, sign up for a chance to win free books!
Whoohoo! There's only one thing I love more than books: FREE books! I think Beaudry's Ghost and Duality look the most interesting; those were the two I selected.
In other news, going to the New York Anime Festival tomorrow! The Boy and I went to the last one, too; honestly, it wasn't half as good as Anime Boston, but it's going to rain this weekend and with Pete's computer broken (and thus no Warcraft), we needed some fun activity to attend. And tickets weren't too expensive.
ETA: To any Twilight anti-fans on this here FL - Definitely check out the LJ comm The Most Popular Book in the Whole World. It's a hilarious parody of the crap that is the Twilight saga. And now you can order it on Lulu! ...I am so tempted. |
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[Jul. 26th, 2008|11:36 am] |
o_chibi_chan over at LJ finally finished "The Shape of His Heart," which is by far the greatest, funniest, epic-ist Final Fantasy X story out there. No, the greatest Final Fantasy story. No wait, screw that. GREATEST STORY OF ALL TIME.
I'm too fangirly right now to give it a proper review, but let me try to channel my flailing and squealing into some sort of coherent paragraph. Ahem.
OH MY GOD IT'S AWESOME.
Rikku is off-the-wall, but she's so wise and deep. Everything she says is spot-on perfect - all energy and moxie and brains - she's happy, really happy, even though she can see and understand and feel all the pain in Spira. And Auron - wow. Auron's transformation is so realistic, so smooth. There's nothing forced about his change. He plods toward it with typical Auron determination, and when he reaches it - Wow. Wow wow wow.
TSoHH was a huge influence on my writing, and it also indirectly introduced me to Final Fantasy VII. Through Gabi-hime (which is her pen name over at FF.net), I discovered Guardian1, who wrote "Tastes Like Green," my favorite Yuffie-centric story. I've based my interpretations of Rikku and Yuffie almost completely on these two authors.
Wow.
...Gonna go read the whole thing through again. |
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| avatard |
[Jul. 20th, 2008|12:15 pm] |
From 4chan: So I hear the next series will be The Adventures of Cock-Block Zuko about his epic voyage in which he stumbles in on people all over the world, interrupting them and making them feel awkward?
...I'd watch that. |
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[Jul. 19th, 2008|10:07 pm] |
GREATEST FINALE EVER.
MANLY TEARS. MANLY TEARS.
EDIT: From 4chan: "My soul just came."
MINE TOO, 4CHAN, MINE TOO. |
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[Jul. 19th, 2008|10:51 am] |
Tonight's the series's finale of Avatar! I can't believe that it's taken so long and that it's finally here! Come on, guys - what about Book Air?
How are they going to be able to fit so much into two hours? There's so much that needs to resolved: Iroh, Zuko's mother, Toph's family, Longshot and Smellerbee, Mai and Ty Lee...
Man oh man.
Aang better get some lovin'. |
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| the truth is in mulder's pants |
[Jun. 1st, 2008|11:55 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | blah: fandom | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | sakuranbo kisu >> kotoko | ] |
The Boy and I have been watching X-Files lately. A while ago, ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) aristoboule posted about a crazy deal at Amazon - They were selling X-Files box sets for 50% off or something like that. I bought season one and two; I already had season 6.
It took some of my most convincing/nagging arguments to get Pete to sit down and watch it with me, but now he's hooked and we're burning through the first season. We just watched "Ice," which I really liked when I was younger because of the scenes where they examine each other for parasites. Mulder's like "I'M DOING THIS BECAUSE I CARE *grope grope grope* YOUR SKIN IS SOFT." And Scully's all "I'M A DOCTOR YOU CAN TRUST ME MMMM YOUR HAIR SMELLS NICE."
Waaaay back in the day, when I first got the internet, the X-Files fandom was tearing up the world wide web. I read a lot of fanfiction back then, Mulder/Scully and Mulder/Krychek being my poisons of choice. I'm definitely more int he M/S camp, though; M/K is just for the hot mansex. I really like the relationship that Mulder and Scully share, and although most of the time I'm screaming for them just to start bonking for chrissakes god why aren't they macking each other up yet, the fact that their closest is based on trust rather than chemistry is really interesting.
I'm still in don't-know-if-I-want mode for the movie. We'll see how that turns out.
I really need some X-Files icons. |
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| every day the same ol' dizzy dance |
[May. 11th, 2008|11:08 am] |
I still haven't been writing much lately. Plot bunnies are running merrily through my otherwise empty skull, but I haven't found the time or patience to sit down and do some significant typing. I haven't been reading much fanfiction recently, either, which I hope to remedy today.
I really want to get back into the 3:10 to Yuma fandom. I'm stoked about baggyeyes's "Burn" epic - Gotta read that. All these AU stories have helped me form my own post-Yuma thingie. Maybe I'll try to start that today, too.
I've been neglecting the Fan History wiki, too. I fiddled around a bit with the Avatar: The Last Airbender articles and even made some userboxes, but it's been a while since I've done any major editing. Dammit, real life! Stop interfering with my fandom time!
Haven't even been playing many videogames. Pete's laid claim to my DS to play Apollo Justice, which he of course loves. Baby gay lawyers ftw! When he beats that I'm going to re-start Hotel Dusk. And I really, really, really need to beat Final Fantasy X-2. I'm so, so close to the ending. I just need to accept that I'm not going to get 100% this time around. Sorry, Yuna. |
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| 3:10 to yuma stuff |
[Feb. 14th, 2008|11:22 am] |
Because the only thing Ben like better than a debate he can win is a fight he might lose. handful_ofdust said that over at LJ and I think that totally and perfectly describes Ben and why he finds Dan so interesting. I blathered a bit about that in a comment the other day, but handful_ofdust said it in a neat, pithy sentence.
Also need to gush about Secret Weapon by baggyeyes. Eeee - excuse me, I need to squee for a moment - eeeeee! Dan's so strong in this story; I really wish I could write him with as much fierceness. I love it!
I think that my version of Dan always turns out namby-pamby because of my experience with slash and romance novels back in the days of yore. The first romance novels I read were bodice-rippers, and when slash and yaoi were beginning to grow in popularity, the top/bottom (or seme/uke) dynamics were in full swing. It's easier to write about one aggressor and one swooner than to make the characters into full, round, individual people. Stereotypes are way simpler. Must break the habit! |
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| Harry Potter book 8? |
[Jan. 4th, 2008|12:02 pm] |
Found a link to this article on FH.com: "There have been times since finishing, weak moments, when I've said 'Yeah, all right' to the eighth novel..."
I know that Rowling lost fans because of the way book 7 turned out, and even though she did a lot to break my heart (kill off Tonks? Remus? Hedwig?!), I'd love to read more. I've never been really bothered by canon; if something happens that I don't like, I simply disregard it and write my own version in fanfiction.
Personally, I'd love to read about the Marauders, or even better, the Founders. Ancient magic ftw! |
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| gender and fandom |
[Jan. 3rd, 2008|05:55 pm] |
There's been a lot of debate surrounding OTW's women-only vibe (from a comment in their LJ introduction: "The OTW is an organization created to advocate for female-dominated transformative media fandom and its artworks." That they're asserting that fandom as a whole is created and run by women is, to some, a lie and an insult, and that OTW is shooting themselves in the foot by making such a statement.
I'm not sure what to think about all of it. I don't have strong feelings for or against OTW in general, though I do worry that they're unnecessarily dragging the spotlight over to fanfiction. But the male vs female space and the gender of fandom are two really interesting topics. I'm a twenty-four year old woman. The way I primarily participate in fandom is by writing fanfiction, secondly by role-playing. I live with my boyfriend, a twenty-three year old man (duh, obviously). At this time, he does not participate in fandom at all. As a child, however, he and his friends wrote stories and scripts based on Lord of the Rings, and he also read Phantasy Star IV fanfiction. That we like the same things, play the same video games, and watch the same things and yet have such different expectations of fandom is interesting.
I don't have any really coherent thoughts about gender in fandom at the moment, but I wanted to start writing about my experiences. So here's a bit about my first two fandoms: Digimon 01/02 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
( A whole lot of too long, didn't read. )
So... Yeah. I can't draw any conclusions yet. I'm just trying to get my thoughts in order. |
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| indiana jones and fandom |
[Dec. 17th, 2007|11:46 am] |
I can't believe I haven't written about this yet: Before Thanksgiving, Pete, Dan, and I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, which is a shot-by-shot movie made by a bunch of kids in the 80s. The director and the star were there to answer questions; it was interesting to hear their explanations. I can't summarize what they said - I waited too long to write up this report - but apparently a movie about The Adaptation is being made, so their story will be widely available.
It took them six years to complete, and they did most of it without a VHS tape for reference (as they started before tapes had been released). The actors aged, voices changed, most of it was filmed in a basement, and the sound and picture quality was atrocious, but damn, was it interesting. And amazingly well done. The effort and time that they put into it is mind-boggling. Six years!
That passion, that endurance... I really admire them. I hope they receive more recognition for their project - I think that their creativity and devotion should be rewarded. When I read about the latest tizzies in the harry Potter fandom or this Organization for Transformative Works' claptrap, i think about how all of them just don't get it. You should create fanworks because you just love that story - or that movie or that game - just so damn much that spending 6 years filming and editing and figuring out how to blow up cars is the least you can do. It's not about making money, it's not about the reward, it's not about sticking it to the man. It's love, pure and simple. |
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| nano and novels |
[Nov. 15th, 2007|03:31 pm] |
To everyone doing NaNoWriMo this year, GOOD LUCK! I admire your perseverance and patience. As much as I love to write, I can't seem to finish a story longer than a few hundred words. Novels for great justice!
Speaking of novels, I'm re-reading Gothic by Fred Botting, which is an introduction on Gothic texts that I had to read senior year. It's weird coming back to a subject I haven't even really thought in over a year; some of the stuff is so familiar that it's like we never parted, and some of the stuff it feels like I'm learning for the first time. I would really, really love to go to grad school and further study Gothic literature. For realz, yo.
I started reading it on the subway yesterday, and I'm only a few chapters in, but the book's already inspired a few plot bunnies. And besides riling up my muses, it's got me thinking about the duality of sexuality. There's a good deal about the duality of human nature in general, that's one of the big themes in Gothics, and there's one little bit about sexuality that I found really interesting (emphasis mine): "Themes of the divided nature of the human constitution have become established ways of discussing Gothic texts: dualities of mind and body, reason and desire, are repeatedly evoked. Popular Freudianism, assimilated by nineteenth-century notions of human duality, is ubiquitous..."
Human sexuality is fascinating; I think about sex a lot, and not all my thoughts are porny. That statement leads to a shitload of interesting theories. Sexuality is a characteristic, but its separate from the rest of our identity. It's such a powerful aspect of our character, however, that it completely dominants our identity and overrides the rest. To bring this into fandom, look at the Dumbledore is gay fiasco. To some people, the fact that he's gay completely defines him as a person, and nullifies any of his other characteristics. He's gay. That's it. That completely summarizes him. I remember reading somewhere (someone probably linked it on Fandom Wank), that people see Dumbledore as a pervert now, and his interest in Harry wasn't because he believed Harry could save the world, but because he lusted after Harry (because being gay is the same as being a pedophile, of course /sarcasm).
Blarg, I feel like I'm not articulating my idea correctly. I need to go back to school. my mind's rotted away into nothingness. |
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giddy
giggly
confused
pessimistic
awake
chipper
curious