http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2772

These responses are totally dripping with SPOILERS so please click carefully!

( Highlander )

( Doctor Who )

( Buffy the Vampire Slayer )

( The Lymond Chronicles )

( A Song of Ice and Fire )

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2710

Disliking a fictional character is not the same thing as saying that character deserves to be raped. I have never in my life said that ANY woman, fictional or real, deserves to be raped, because no woman ever deserves to be raped. Anyone who claims I have said this is flat out lying, and the fact that someone out there is actually trying to discredit my Doctor Who arguments by spreading the word that I like rape is pretty much the sickest thing that’s happened to me in the entirety of my fannish experience.

Whoever you are, you’re pathetic.

I’m disabling comments because I am fed up with this topic. If you know the context for this, I’d ask that you don’t reply to them, as it only eggs them on. If you don’t know the context, just be glad.

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My entire friendslist has been swarmed with Buffy quotes. So, okay, here’s my favorite line of the series:

“Timothy Dalton should win an Oscar and beat Sean Connery over the head with it!”
- Andrew to Warren in “Life Serial”

This was funny the first time because of the outraged and sincere way Andrew says it, plus, dude, Timothy Dalton??? And it’s funnier now because after seeing most of the Bond films, Timothy Dalton surprised the hell out of me and might actually be my favorite Bond.

Second place would be the whole Spike/Joyce hot chocolate scene in “Lovers Walk”:

The kitchen at the Summers house. Joyce picks up the teakettle from the stove and takes it over to the island, where she pours some into a cup for Spike to make hot chocolate.

Spike: So I’m strolling through the park, looking for a meal, and I happen to walk by, and she’s making out with the chaos demon! And so I said, ‘You know, I don’t have to put up with this.’ And she said, ‘Fine!’ So I said, ‘Fine, do whatever you like!’ I mean, I thought we were going to make up, you know.

Joyce: (sits across from him) Well, she sounds very unreasonable.

Spike: She is. She’s out of her mind. (sniffs) That’s what I miss most about her. (smiles)

Joyce: Well, Spike, sometimes even when two people seem right for each other, their lives just take different paths. When Buffy’s father and I…

Spike: (interrupts) No, this is different. Our love was eternal. Literally. (calms down) You got any of those little marshmallows?

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Gacked from a_white_rain:

( Buffy meme )

It's been so long that I can barely remember most of this stuff. Let's try something more recent.

( new Doctor Who version )

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Tonight I got to see one of my favorite bands with two of my favorite people in the universe.

chenanceou and jaydk met up with me at Pukk, the yummy vegetarian Thai restaurant. Then we headed to The Living Room to see Common Rotation.

It was a good show, although way too short. The band members were in good moods; the stage banter was adorable and the songs were all entertaining. But it felt incomplete, because they didn’t play a single one of the staples I’ve gotten used to at Common Rotation shows; no “Everything Under the Sun” or “Gone Dyin’” or “Clear Channel” or “Party People” or “Indie Rockin.” Just, good, but I wanted another hour. Remember those living room shows, when they’d play and play? I got so spoiled back then…

I made chenanceou get their autographs afterward, because, dude, she’d come halfway across the world and timed her trip to see them. She was all adorable and shy. And of course the band was nice, as they always are. Adam Busch is the nicest “celebrity” I met in the entirety of Buffy fandom.

Amber Benson was there, and it always freaks me out to see her, because she is tiny. Like, ethereal. And when you remember that people complained about her being “fat” when she was on BtVS, you realize that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan must be, like, doll-sized, to look small next to her. It also made me feel like some kind of hulking giant. But anyway. She is also nice.

And tomorrow I’m going to Asbury Park. I’m going to lay on the beach and breathe salty air and read something light (maybe Harry Potter) and just be glad to be out of NYC. I can’t believe I haven’t gone anywhere in eight months. I’m not made to stay in one place for so long!

(Is it really annoying to choose three mood icons? I can’t decide if I’m more drunk, tired, or happy.)

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DAMMIT, SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!

Mustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclick…

I don’t know how long I can hold out! Now would be a really good time to go hibernate in a cave somewhere with no internet access.

Let’s talk about something completely unrelated to the SPOILERS THAT ARE CALLING ME. Hmm.

Oh! I chose some furniture.

( furniture and other random stuff )

More distractions; have some recs:

* selenak wrote a great post comparing "Midnight" and "Voyage of the Damned." (I could swear I read a good one somewhere comparing it to "42," also, but now I don't remember where it was.)

* lordshiva wrote the Doctor and Anya from Buffy! So much win.

* I adored the New York Times article about Russell T Davies. So far three people I know in real life have come up to me to chatter about it, too.

* I read this entire book about the 1977 blackout in NYC. I'm weird. I clicked on it while researching the history of Bushwick and ended up completely fascinated by the sociology, psychology, and history it explores. (Plus it's fascinating because I had a great time during the 2003 blackout--I got drunk in the gay bar across the street and bonded with my soon-to-be-friend Anne, who stayed at my place rather than walk home to Brooklyn.) It's amazing to compare how the various blackouts reflect the social conditions of their eras.

* I made this bread (substituting a mix of molasses and agave nectar for the honey) and it's delicious.

Do you have any recs for stuff that'll distract me from spoilers? Please share. :)

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I miss Buffy fandom.

*digs up hideous old icon for nostalgia’s sake*

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http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2530

Random thing that’s annoying me lately: people justifying their fannish opinions by claiming that the show isn’t “supposed” to go a certain way. Like, y’know, “It’s not that I hate Rose, it’s just that the Whoniverse isn’t supposed to be so focused on one companion.” Or “It’ll destroy the moral structure of the Buffyverse if Spike is good without a soul.”

Please. Own your own freaking opinion. You don’t like Rose or Spike? Fine. Say so. But quit trying to pretend you’re just some neutral party trying to defend the integrity of the show (against us destructive interlopers who like the characters you dislike). TV shows change directions all the time, and the ones that do change to pursue a more interesting story are generally better for it.

I don’t give a fuck about “preserving the integrity of the initial set up”–it’s just a TV show premise, not a religious doctrine. If something better comes along, good. I want a well-written story, and if that means adjusting the rules, I’m all for it.

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I mentioned the other day that the Tenth Doctor is Totally My Type, and kita0610 thought I was insane.

So how do you go from "punk rock vampire who kills/loves Slayers" to "universe-saving geeky alien on a children's show"?

It makes perfect sense in my head, but apparently is not obvious to everyone else? ;)

Now, first, don't throw things at me. I'm not saying the Tenth Doctor and Spike are the same. I'm not even saying they're mostly similar. I'm saying that they have certain similar qualities that ping my fannish radar and make me squee.

( My type of character: Spike, Methos, Jaime Lannister, Brian Kinney, Logan Echolls, Francis Crawford, Fox Mulder, Richard Sharpe... )

( And how the hell does the Tenth Doctor fit into this group? )

Whee, that same exact meme that everyone else is doing.

1. Pick 15 of your favourite movies
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions. Totally cheating, you dirty cheaters.

( Guess the quotes! )

***

Also, more amusing proof that Torchwood consists entirely of old Buffy and Angel scripts mixed with fanfic.

Choose five series (no peeking before you choose them), list them, and then answer the questions behind the cut.

1. New Doctor Who
2. Life on Mars
3. Highlander
4. Buffy
5. South Park

( Read more... )

Yay! jaydk posted for the first time in over two years! Go read her brilliant thoughts about why she loves Doctor Who soooo much, and her thoughts on viewing series one for the first time after having already fallen in love with David Tennant's portrayal of Ten.

I keep meaning to do something like this, maybe even an episode-by-episode breakdown of my thoughts, as I keep rewatching series' two and three over and over and thinking "I should post about [whatever interesting thought that pops into my head]." But then I forget by the time I'm in front of the computer. Maybe I should take notes.

I will post a little bit about what I like about Doctor Who in general, though. I keep comparing it to other fandoms that I've been into, and all the various gripes I've had about them, and Doctor Who consistently comes out ahead.

( reasons I love Doctor Who, in which my BtVS/AtS issues come out to play )

Anything else? Don't forget that Chemlab is awesome and on tour. They're hitting Orlando, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and NYC this week. 10zlaine and I will be at the Philly and NYC shows. :)

Oh, and this is supercool: the Organization for Transformative Works. Friend them at otw_news.

So I've been catching up with what's been going on in fandom lately, and it's kind of turned into another rant....

Here's Joss Whedon complaining about misogyny on Whedonesque. I have plenty of issues with the way Joss writes women, and I'm annoyed at the implication of some of the comments that this issue is suddenly worth talking about because a man brought it up. That said, I very much appreciate that Joss is upset by the utter ubiquitousness of misogyny in our culture, and that he feels compelled to post about it.

I was reading Fandom Wank yesterday, and I got so sick reading the discussions surrounding the repulsive Mary Jane statue from Sideshow Collectibles (I'm never buying anything from them again). Specifically I was disgusted by the men popping up and complaining about how it's not a big deal, about how the "feminazis" need to shut up and leave them alone, about how oppressed the poor men are by the evil women, blah blah blah *TEARING MY HAIR OUT* BULLSHIT. And then someone reverses the genders and portrays a male character in the over-the-top sexual way that women are used to, and suddenly the men are throwing hissy fits. (Also amusing: this reversal of Spiderman and Mary Jane's positions--scroll to the end of the entry.)

( me raging about how men just DON'T GET IT )

Anyway. I did follow this crap to a link to Anti-Comics-Feminist Bingo, which is brilliant. (I'm not really a comics reader, but these arguments pop up everywhere.) It's got more detailed explanations here.

jaydk, drujan, and I went to see Spiderman III together, and afterward jaydk told us about this rule, which I forget the name of, that asks whether a movie passes the following test: does it have 1) at least two women, who 2) talk to each other 3) about something besides a man.

We started going through our favorite movies and TV shows and realized that almost none of them even come close to passing this test. (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Spiderman, Pirates... I could go on.) Buffy, at least, passes it. But it's so incredibly depressing to realize how much doesn't.

In large part this is because so many writers, when creating an ensemble, treat male as the default, with a variety of personality types within it, and then throw in one token "girl" as if "the girl" is the only personality type a woman could have. Girl-Wonder.org actually has a really great article about how to write female characters well. I know so many well-meaning but clueless male writers who could benefit from this.

Perhaps I'm feeling overly sensitive to this stuff due to recent experiences...

Oh yeah, and then there's this FanLib thing (which is also all over metafandom), in which a bunch of male venture capitalist creeps are trying to profiteer off of fandom. I can't even begin to say how repulsive this is, on so very many levels, but luckily practically everyone in fandom already been posting about how much it sucks. It... just... see, I get inarticulate with rage.

I guess that what sickens me most is that it takes away literally EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD about fandom: ( do you want to read yet another fan bitching about FanLib? )

I know I'm way behind the times in posting about all this, but I'm trying to catch up and I couldn't help ranting after reading all this crap...


On the plus side, I'm off to see Pirates 3 tonight. At least there's still some good stuff in the world. :P

( general Veronica Mars thoughts )

( random personal babble )

I kind of miss Buffy fandom. It was fun having that kind of all-consuming obsession with something, and being able to share it with so many people. It was also so neat getting into the culture, learning all the acronyms and terms and references.... I don't know if I will ever get into a fandom the way I did with Buffy, and it makes me really sad to think that. I was so naive and clueless at the time, and now that I know so much about how TV shows and fandoms work, how could I ever work up that same level of investment and idealism about the story and characters? (On the plus side, I'm way less wanky now that I know not to care so much!)

Maybe I am just in one of my periodic "OMG life is so dull without a fandom" phases. Something come along and seize my attention, dammit!

Man, you don't read LiveJournal for a few days, and you miss all kinds of exciting things.

I'm not sure what's funnier, the polyamorous horse fucker or the fact that Joss Whedon still thinks he can pass Xander off as a sex symbol.

I also spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday reading Wil Wheaton's reviews of old Star Trek episodes. I'm amused by the little snippets of memory I get from having watched this show as a kid, plus Wil Wheaton is always an entertaining writer.

You know you're tired when it seems like more effort to get up and go home than to sit at work for an extra hour skimming LJ...

Ahhhh! What the hell is he doing in my neighborhood? Seriously, I could lean out my window and see him from here.

Things that are amusing me today:

* This wank.

My Personal Unbreakable Vow to Severus...
My Unbreakable Vow to Severus Snape

I promise to be always faithful in body and mind, and never love another man.

Don't miss the song parodies on page 22 of the comments.

* The fact that people are still sending me angry letters disagreeing with a Buffy essay I wrote four years ago. I guess it's kind of cool that it still occasionally strikes a nerve, but I should probably put some kind of warning up that I don't really care anymore and am not going to respond to a 20-page counter essay.

* I love fandom because it's the only place where Alec Trevelyan and Kronos work together to destroy London, James Bond, and Methos. And I so can't believe that I spent the last two days reading Bond/Trevelyan fic. For some reason, it had never occurred to me that there'd be fic about them, maybe because the movie came out so long ago (you mean there was fic before LiveJournal!? :P ).

My observations: there's a huge percentage of darkfic, presumably because the canon is so dark. Much of it reminds me of Spike/Angel, another pairing which blurs love and hate, villain and hero. Most of what isn't darkfic is straight up porn, and most of the porn reminds me that Repossession-style melodrama is not limited to Spander. There's very little pure crap (probably not too many 12-year-olds are drawn to writing fic about a ten-year-old Bond movie) but only a couple stories that I'd rate excellent. A lot of mediocrity, but most of its entertaining enough to read quickly. (I'm automatically skipping anything that says "OFC," or calls either man the other's "lover"). I am getting annoyed at how many stories were written apparently because people wanted to fantasize about Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean getting it on, without acknowledging either character or paying any attention to the fact that Trevelyan is full of hate and plotting to betray Bond. Way to remove all the interesting stuff about the pairing. :P

Funny, I like Sharpe way better than GoldenEye (actually, I disliked GoldenEye), but I haven't been inspired to read much Sharpe fic. Maybe because the canon's already satisfying, whereas GoldenEye has great ingredients (deep friendship and devastating betrayal between two ultra-hot action heroes) that it doesn't do much with on the level of character exploration--it's practically begging for fanfic.


Also, what was up with Veronica Mars last night? (I had it on in the background, because I'm not Officially Watching it.) Veronica Mars: patron show for the "I'm not a feminist, but I sure love having rights!" crowd. Seriously, what's with this cynical POV that says it's great to have social justices, but that we'll incessantly mock anyone actually cares enough about these issues to try to do something about them? I suppose activists are easy to mock, because they're the type of people who care passionately about something and don't try to hide it, but honestly, have any of these writers ever met a feminist? Most of us are capable of logic--and some of us even have senses of humor (!!).

Anyway. But the Logan plotline was entertaining. You really can't have too much angsty Logan... if only those other characters didn't keep getting in the way. My favorite thing about the show is the Echolls family, and I'm highly annoyed that most of them have been killed off, so I'm glad the writers have brought in another, even through cheesetastic long-lost-brother means. Hopefully he'll show up again.

drujan informed me this weekend that BAPS is closing, which makes me sad, particularly because they're deleting the archives.

I haven't been back there in years, but that's where I entered fandom. (And my opinions have certainly changed dramatically since!) Still, the nostalgia is strong.

I'm looking through old posts now. 2001, and everyone's wondering what's going to happen when Riley returns. (Kelly suggests that Buffy will have to kill him to save Spike--oh, those were the good old days!) There's drujan, 10zlaine, kellyhk, redeem147, chenanceou, ww1614, spikewriter, jerrymcl89, jaydk, shipperx, klytaimnestra, cindermom... and plenty of others, but I can't spend all day scrolling through BAPS. To think, the different places we were in our lives back then.

It's amazing, looking through the list of people posting, how many of those people I later met in person, and how many I still know today. Fandom is crazy. In a good way.


The weekend was fun. jaydk and I finally celebrated drujan's birthday with a dinner at Pukk, which involved lots of their excellent sangria, and I secretly squeed over the fact that I'd gotten my two omnivorous friends to be enthusiastic over a vegan restaurant. ( seeing The Illusionist and other movies )

On Sunday I got some actual work done, and then watched my three latest Netflix movies, which were Less than Zero, Richard III (with Ian McKellen), and Wonder Boys.

( Wonder Boys )

( Richard III )

( Less Than Zero )

( Sharpe's Honor, the book )

Oh, and I'm leaving for DragonCon tomorrow. I'm not really into anything fannish at the moment, but I'm sure I'll find stuff to do, and I'll definitely be seeing Godhead, the Cruxshadows, and Voltaire, and hanging out with jaydk and 10zlaine.

Seriously. I get at least one of these a month.

Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
[name removed to protect the innocent] on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 12:22:42
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

comments: Hello Spike.
My name is Celena, i am 13 years old and i wondering if you could send a autografh to me? I lives in Sweden and i have write a book
abot you and Angel, you see that i am in love with a guy i think is VERY sexiii and the book´ name is: Love?? Vampirelife?? It its
come out to the world you maby could read it??
You will reconice it, i promes.... And i love when you are a vampire!! Yeah thats it´s i hope you will read my book!
And my adress is:
[name and address removed]
63343 Eskilstuna
Sweden
Thanxx!

In other news: JetBlue, I hate you.

So for the past hour, we've been looking out our office windows watching people set up a gigantic red blow-up float thingy of Santa Claus riding a huge lobster. Anyone have any idea what this means? We figure they're selling something--lobsters? Christmas decorations:? Is it some kind of early cinco de mayo celebration? Are they promoting bestiality between fat men and lobsters?

Also. Every day the mail guy comes and he calls me "princess." I hate it. It's not funny. And everyone laughs about it and I feel obligated to smile and be nice, but really I just find it terribly condescending and not funny and irritating and I wish it would just stop, and I wish I was a great big intimidating man so that no one would ever call me "princess."

We ordered Indian food today, and they completely screwed up our orders, and then they were assholes on the phone and wouldn't send us the right food. And my female coworker freaked out and got really upset, so she gave the phone to my male coworker and he convinced them to send replacement food. This also upsets me.

Reading LJ. People are still kerfuffling over Marsters? God, that's like, so two years ago. :P

Actually, I rediscovered this last night. Ah, the good old days--I sort of miss being able to start a kerfuffle with just a bitchy JM post. It was pretty funny. (Though I'm also somewhat embarrassed by my devotion to something I now find so completely... irrelevant.) I think that post got on fandom_wank, and was the inspiration for me leaving some snooty elitist yahoo list in a huff because they were bitching about me without realizing I was on the list, and then witling started writing that boglescatverse story for me because I was all upset.... although maybe I'm confusing things; I think I had multiple kerfuffley posts. Way back when. I was such a newbie, I cared so much about this inane social bullshit that I don't even notice anymore.

It's weird seeing who I used to talk to back then--some people who ended up becoming close friends, and some who I've totally lost touch with. It's weird that I've had a LJ for over two years; it still feels sort of new, like something I'm experimenting with, rather than something I just do. Truthfully, I'd probably have been long gone, except people kept gifting me with paid time, so I felt obligated to stay, and now I'm pretty much stuck with it, because now I maintain some important relationships solely through LJ and I don't want to lose those.

Yesterday someone linked to this, and I thought I was going to die laughing. I mean, no offense to those who like him, to each his own and all, but, dude. Seriously. Are you kidding?

I miss 10zlaine already. How dare she go to New Zealand and not have internet access for a week?!

monanotlisa asked that I put together a QaF recs list, since I'm reading so much of it lately. That's my role in fandom, isn't it? Starting kerfuffles and screening out badfic. (Could be worse; at least I've got good taste. ;)

Anyway, I'm mainly going to rec authors rather than stories, because most people who write well tend to do so consistently.

( My half-assed Brian-centric Queer as Folk rec list )