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Sticky: Things you should know
This is my Serious Business journal. Are you perhaps looking for my fannish/personal journal alias_sqbr?
My comment policy.
Absolutely anyone is welcome to read/subscribe, and noone is under any obligation to give me access.
This is the stuff I assume you know about me.
alias_sqbr?My comment policy.
Absolutely anyone is welcome to read/subscribe, and noone is under any obligation to give me access.
This is the stuff I assume you know about me.
Indigenous tent embassy turns 40
I plan to spend Invasion Day indoors keeping out of the sun. (Of course, that's what I do most days)
I plan to spend Invasion Day indoors keeping out of the sun. (Of course, that's what I do most days)
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Inspired by this conversation on tumblr about rule 63 Eridan/Feferi, and others I've seen: here's a selection of the first few interactions between Feferi and Eridan with their genders swapped in a really slapdash way. There's an version of the chat without all the text quirks at the bottom of the page.
No thoughts as yet, just wanted to see what it looked like. The text required very little changing!
( Read more... )
No thoughts as yet, just wanted to see what it looked like. The text required very little changing!
( Read more... )
Yeah, nobody cares about this movie any more. I just watched it, so you get my thoughts anyway. In the end I'm glad I watched it but I didn't have a super good time doing so. I can see why some people love it and others hate it.
Overall: A cheesy, clunkily written, exploitative film with some cool visuals and action overlaying a moderately successful story of women making a small but determined effort to fight back together against degradation and oppression while being kickass. I felt that the degradation was laid on a bit thick, I can see the film being pretty triggery for a lot of people.
I thought that might be the thing that put me off but actually my main issue is that there's scenes that are clearly meant to be symbolic/metaphorical where 90% of the stuff that happens doesn't actually seem to be symbolic/metaphorical for anything, it's just there to look cool. Which made them feel empty and meaningless, even if they did look pretty.
I thought it got some gender things right and some others wrong, it could have been much better and much worse in that respect. It did pretty badly on race, though (POC and non-Western cultures are very much the background to the stories of pretty blonde white girls), and I didn't like the treatment of mental illness. (Or fat people with skin conditions, what is it with stuff set in asylums…)
Also: There were no positive portrayals of romance or sex, except as ways of asserting power. All positive relationships were platonic and between women. That was interesting.
I've seen Sucker Punch compared to Madoka Magica and I can definitely see the similarities, though I liked Madoka Magica more.
Cam didn't like it at all, he thought it was voyeuristic and shallow.
And now, spoilers!
( spoilery thoughts )
Overall: A cheesy, clunkily written, exploitative film with some cool visuals and action overlaying a moderately successful story of women making a small but determined effort to fight back together against degradation and oppression while being kickass. I felt that the degradation was laid on a bit thick, I can see the film being pretty triggery for a lot of people.
I thought that might be the thing that put me off but actually my main issue is that there's scenes that are clearly meant to be symbolic/metaphorical where 90% of the stuff that happens doesn't actually seem to be symbolic/metaphorical for anything, it's just there to look cool. Which made them feel empty and meaningless, even if they did look pretty.
I thought it got some gender things right and some others wrong, it could have been much better and much worse in that respect. It did pretty badly on race, though (POC and non-Western cultures are very much the background to the stories of pretty blonde white girls), and I didn't like the treatment of mental illness. (Or fat people with skin conditions, what is it with stuff set in asylums…)
Also: There were no positive portrayals of romance or sex, except as ways of asserting power. All positive relationships were platonic and between women. That was interesting.
I've seen Sucker Punch compared to Madoka Magica and I can definitely see the similarities, though I liked Madoka Magica more.
Cam didn't like it at all, he thought it was voyeuristic and shallow.
And now, spoilers!
( spoilery thoughts )
No Disability at the Final Frontier: Science Fiction, Cures, and Eliminationism reminds me that I've been meaning to make a post about disability in "perfect" disability-free societies for a while, waiting until I can write the Perfect Post, but I think it's time to admit that's not going to happen and just ramble for a while, with the option to return to the topic later it later.
I'm not really addressing s.e.smith's point but riffing off a different aspect of the same broader topic of depictions of disability in scifi. I also covered some of this in Disability in Speculative Fiction: Monsters, mutants and muggles.
( Read more... )
I'm not really addressing s.e.smith's point but riffing off a different aspect of the same broader topic of depictions of disability in scifi. I also covered some of this in Disability in Speculative Fiction: Monsters, mutants and muggles.
( Read more... )
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It's very good, and very readable too, I've had real trouble concentrating on non fiction (or anything much) for the last few years but found this fairly easy to get into.
Russ makes SOME attempt at intersectionality, but there are some glaring omissions. She's also almost entirely focussed on American/British English Literature, apart from one or two examples. But regardless I think the silencing techniques she talks about are pretty universal and this book would be useful to anyone thinking about how marginalised group voices are suppressed.
The cover contains a summary of her argument:
( She wrote it BUT… )
Russ makes SOME attempt at intersectionality, but there are some glaring omissions. She's also almost entirely focussed on American/British English Literature, apart from one or two examples. But regardless I think the silencing techniques she talks about are pretty universal and this book would be useful to anyone thinking about how marginalised group voices are suppressed.
The cover contains a summary of her argument:
“She didn’t write it. But if it’s clear she did the deed… She wrote it, bit she shouldn’t have. (It’s political, sexual, masculine, feminist.) She wrote it, but look what she wrote about. (The bedroom, the kitchen, her family. Other women!) She wrote it, but she wrote only one of it. (“Jane Eyre. Poor dear. That’s all she ever…”) She wrote it, but she isn’t really an artist, and it isn’t really art. (It’s a thriller, a romance, a children’s book. It’s sci fi!) She wrote it, but she had help. (Robert Browning. Branwell Brontë. Her own “masculine side”.) She wrote it, but she’s an anomaly. (Woolf. With Leonard’s help…) She wrote it BUT…”
( She wrote it BUT… )
Greetings all! I have written a locked post summarising my experiences over the last year over at alias_sqbr, and since my access policy over there is basically "does not appear to be a bot, spammer or my mother" have added you all to my circle so you can read it if you like(*).
Hope the season is treating you well! It's very hot here, but I have an airconditioner, so it's all good :)
(*)This was far less painful than I thought it would be: I loaded up the sqbr profile in a browser logged into alias_sqbr, then added everyone not in bold.
alias_sqbr, and since my access policy over there is basically "does not appear to be a bot, spammer or my mother" have added you all to my circle so you can read it if you like(*).Hope the season is treating you well! It's very hot here, but I have an airconditioner, so it's all good :)
(*)This was far less painful than I thought it would be: I loaded up the sqbr profile in a browser logged into alias_sqbr, then added everyone not in bold.
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Occupy Wall Street kitchen staff protesting fixing food for freeloaders OH NO ACTUAL POOR PEOPLE
Occupy at Home Resources for those unable to join the protests, also just generally useful if very US focussed.
Health as a virtue
In local news:
Indigenous elders condemn intervention extension WHY WON'T THIS LEGISLATION DIE
Occupy at Home Resources for those unable to join the protests, also just generally useful if very US focussed.
Health as a virtue
In local news:
Indigenous elders condemn intervention extension WHY WON'T THIS LEGISLATION DIE
Barred CHOGM protestor 'not a threat' The Queen is visiting, better lock up the environmentalists! On the plus side even commercial FM radio news was talking about it.
Rio Tinto accused over Bougainville 'genocide'
Housos: a tv show making fun of disabled people living in public housing. As a disabled person who grew up in public housing around a lot of disabled people my response was nostalgia coated in a heavy layer of "Fuck you"(*). Here's the first episode of Housos, I only got three minutes in, maybe it suddenly becomes SUPER AMAZING after that but somehow I doubt it.
(*)Given that my childhood involved a lot of people swearing and resentment towards middle class(**) wankers who thought they were better than us I guess it's appropriate.
(**)I tried to look up about the guy who made this, but once I hit "He won the Tropfest award…although he had submitted the film under the pseudonym Laura Feinstein in order to appeal to the sensitivities of the judges" I decided I'd hit my loathing limit for the day.
Rio Tinto accused over Bougainville 'genocide'
Housos: a tv show making fun of disabled people living in public housing. As a disabled person who grew up in public housing around a lot of disabled people my response was nostalgia coated in a heavy layer of "Fuck you"(*). Here's the first episode of Housos, I only got three minutes in, maybe it suddenly becomes SUPER AMAZING after that but somehow I doubt it.
(*)Given that my childhood involved a lot of people swearing and resentment towards middle class(**) wankers who thought they were better than us I guess it's appropriate.
(**)I tried to look up about the guy who made this, but once I hit "He won the Tropfest award…although he had submitted the film under the pseudonym Laura Feinstein in order to appeal to the sensitivities of the judges" I decided I'd hit my loathing limit for the day.
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I'm currently reading "The Making of the English Working Class" by E. P. Thompson. I'm almost certainly not going to finish it all 800+ pages before I have to return it to the library, but what I've read has been interesting. I keep finding parallels with the current situation. Reading #OccupyOz captures the mood, but its critics are too busy demanding the possible to be realistic and Occupy Australia and the Antipodean “bubble”, which criticise criticisms from the Left of the Occupy movement within Australia, there is a common paradox: that the most effective way for those outside the ruling class to effect change is to join the ruling class, and that this is used a carrot to get people to focus on being upwardly mobile and just trust that those in power have their best interests at heart.
Reading 17th century politicians arguing that property owners are the only people sufficiently invested in the country to be able to vote responsibly reminds me rather of certain modern Republicans :/
Two half finished thoughts:
( Read more... )
Reading 17th century politicians arguing that property owners are the only people sufficiently invested in the country to be able to vote responsibly reminds me rather of certain modern Republicans :/
Two half finished thoughts:
( Read more... )
Does anyone else feel really uncomfortable making critical reblogs? If it's some meme with 20,000 notes I don't feel like my opinion makes much difference either way, but if I'm disagreeing with someone I follow, or agreeing with their take on some ongoing argument/criticism with like 20 notes, it's hard not to feel like I'm dogpiling and/or encouraging my followers to dogpile. Which I can live with if the thing being criticised is Just That Terrible, but not if it's a more every day sort of wrong, or not entirely without merit. Even if my response is good natured, there's no guarantee the reblogs following me won't go to a bad place, and that's not always something I feel comfortable setting in motion, especially if the person I'm responding to is a friend.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Where are all the female anime fans? I don't read anime blogs, so can't speak to that, but in terms of meatspace fandom: am I wrong in remembering JAFWA (the local anime club) as having a lot of female members? I recall there being a reasonable number of women at the anime panels at Swancon too. Of course this is Australia, which may have a very different fan culture to the US.
Also I find her definition of "fan" unhelpfully ambiguous, it feels like anyone who isn't fannish the same way she is gets excluded. And that's not even getting into her very dubious explanations for this apparent effect, she completely ignores the possibility of sexism within anime fandom making women feel unwelcome. While most of the people I talked to were lovely, there were definitely some weird creepy guys at JAFWA.
The Unintended Consequences of Cyberbullying Rhetoric
Teenagers say drama when they want to diminish the importance of something. Repeatedly, teenagers would refer to something as “just stupid drama,” “something girls do,” or “so high school.” We learned that drama can be fun and entertaining; it can be serious or totally ridiculous; it can be a way to get attention or feel validated. But mostly we learned that young people use the term drama because it is empowering.
Dismissing a conflict that’s really hurting their feelings as drama lets teenagers demonstrate that they don’t care about such petty concerns. They can save face while feeling superior to those tormenting them by dismissing them as desperate for attention. Or, if they’re the instigators, the word drama lets teenagers feel that they’re participating in something innocuous or even funny, rather than having to admit that they’ve hurt someone’s feelings. Drama allows them to distance themselves from painful situations.
This reminds me of the way some people in online fandom use the term "wank".
Also I find her definition of "fan" unhelpfully ambiguous, it feels like anyone who isn't fannish the same way she is gets excluded. And that's not even getting into her very dubious explanations for this apparent effect, she completely ignores the possibility of sexism within anime fandom making women feel unwelcome. While most of the people I talked to were lovely, there were definitely some weird creepy guys at JAFWA.
The Unintended Consequences of Cyberbullying Rhetoric
Teenagers say drama when they want to diminish the importance of something. Repeatedly, teenagers would refer to something as “just stupid drama,” “something girls do,” or “so high school.” We learned that drama can be fun and entertaining; it can be serious or totally ridiculous; it can be a way to get attention or feel validated. But mostly we learned that young people use the term drama because it is empowering.
Dismissing a conflict that’s really hurting their feelings as drama lets teenagers demonstrate that they don’t care about such petty concerns. They can save face while feeling superior to those tormenting them by dismissing them as desperate for attention. Or, if they’re the instigators, the word drama lets teenagers feel that they’re participating in something innocuous or even funny, rather than having to admit that they’ve hurt someone’s feelings. Drama allows them to distance themselves from painful situations.
This reminds me of the way some people in online fandom use the term "wank".
So, I decided a couple of weeks ago that I identify as bi (or something along those lines) I see no reason to be in the closet about it should it come up in conversation, but couldn't see that it would that much, or that most people would care. Still, there was that niggling worry about the world suddenly turning into a magical wonderland of homophobia I'd never noticed before.
( And it is pretty magical )
( And it is pretty magical )
1. Invade country. Murder/enslave/displace etc. local inhabitants.
2. Wring hands about how sad it is that this proud savage race is doomed to die out in the face of civilisation. Bar locals from actually joining "civilisation"/earning money etc.
3. Wring hands about lack of education/food etc for the children. Steal them and attempt to raise them to be a submissive underclass.
4. Wring hands about how social problems and disconnection from their Authentic Culture makes them a Doomed People. Refuse to give basic government support to those who continue in the traditional lifestyle.
5. Wring hands about poor outcomes in remote communities and lack of approved engagement with government programs. Send in army, dismantle local solutions, cut/restrict welfare.
6. Wring hands about widespread starvation and unsustainability of remote communities. Cut welfare altogether, force people to live in the cities.
7. Profit!
nb I don't mean to do that thing of acting like any Indigenous person who lives in the city is Totally Inauthentic and doesn't count. But they shouldn't be forced to live there, and I think some of the power of this form of cultural genocide is the combination of not counting anyone who's too "inauthentic" and refusing to support remote communities. Also I know this is just some guy with no real power, but it was such a perfect example of this historical pattern I felt like highlighting it.
2. Wring hands about how sad it is that this proud savage race is doomed to die out in the face of civilisation. Bar locals from actually joining "civilisation"/earning money etc.
3. Wring hands about lack of education/food etc for the children. Steal them and attempt to raise them to be a submissive underclass.
4. Wring hands about how social problems and disconnection from their Authentic Culture makes them a Doomed People. Refuse to give basic government support to those who continue in the traditional lifestyle.
5. Wring hands about poor outcomes in remote communities and lack of approved engagement with government programs. Send in army, dismantle local solutions, cut/restrict welfare.
6. Wring hands about widespread starvation and unsustainability of remote communities. Cut welfare altogether, force people to live in the cities.
7. Profit!
nb I don't mean to do that thing of acting like any Indigenous person who lives in the city is Totally Inauthentic and doesn't count. But they shouldn't be forced to live there, and I think some of the power of this form of cultural genocide is the combination of not counting anyone who's too "inauthentic" and refusing to support remote communities. Also I know this is just some guy with no real power, but it was such a perfect example of this historical pattern I felt like highlighting it.
Jon Stewart and the Burden of History A flawed but still interesting critique of John Stewart. This came up on my dash shortly after a discussion of how not-that-feminist Jane Austen was, and I think in both cases there's that ambiguity between satire for it's own sake and political statement. Critiquing hypocrisy and ridiculousness does not always extend to critiquing the system that allows such hypocrisy and ridiculousness to flourish, or those who are sensible and honest but harmful.
Mass Effect: Conviction Comic about the new crew member James Vega. And oh look, after the recent DLC where you had no choice but to destroy a planet of unfriendly aliens(*) we have yet another scene of a privileged guy berating thuggish aliens for being so belligerent about his complicity in the mass murder of their people. YAY.
A nice collection of links about this #yesgayya thing.
Also, I have no link to hand, but Australia now allows for a third gender on passports, and has removed the surgery requirement for trans people, huzzah!
(*)Making this the fourth time the player has to decide if (or in what way) they want to be complicit in genocide/mass murder. I would like a new moral dilemma please.
Mass Effect: Conviction Comic about the new crew member James Vega. And oh look, after the recent DLC where you had no choice but to destroy a planet of unfriendly aliens(*) we have yet another scene of a privileged guy berating thuggish aliens for being so belligerent about his complicity in the mass murder of their people. YAY.
A nice collection of links about this #yesgayya thing.
Also, I have no link to hand, but Australia now allows for a third gender on passports, and has removed the surgery requirement for trans people, huzzah!
(*)Making this the fourth time the player has to decide if (or in what way) they want to be complicit in genocide/mass murder. I would like a new moral dilemma please.
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So! I just made this anxiety related icon, and would like a similarly cheerful icon about being touch averse (and specifically, not liking hugs)
Thinking about it, while I had a number of sympathetic anxious characters to choose from I can't think of any positive portrayals of people being being touch averse in a good natured "this is just how I am" way, it's all grumpy messed up people like Fenris. Can anyone else think of any examples? Closest I can think of is Rogue, who is polite about telling people not to touch her or they'll die, but I'd rather someone less wracked with angst.
Thinking about it, while I had a number of sympathetic anxious characters to choose from I can't think of any positive portrayals of people being being touch averse in a good natured "this is just how I am" way, it's all grumpy messed up people like Fenris. Can anyone else think of any examples? Closest I can think of is Rogue, who is polite about telling people not to touch her or they'll die, but I'd rather someone less wracked with angst.
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Maliciousness in memes: #boganmovies and #tightsarenotpants
I always feel a bit self conscious ranting about class, since the more I think about it the more I realise that for all their left wing ideals my parents are basically middle class bohemians slumming it because they find the rat race too stressful. I never entirely fit in to the working class culture I grew up in, and have few connections to it now. Plus being a "working class" Australian in the suburbs in the 80s was in some ways less difficult than, say, what a lot of ostensibly lower middle class Americans are experiencing now.
Then again, I guess the fact that despite these cushioning effects I've still experienced enough classism to feel pretty angry about it is testament to how totally not class free Australia is.
Anyway, yes. The cheerful way that ostensibly left wing middle class people mock and belittle the working class and people from rural areas is gross. (And I wish this went without saying, but I don't want to see any of it in my comments)
I always feel a bit self conscious ranting about class, since the more I think about it the more I realise that for all their left wing ideals my parents are basically middle class bohemians slumming it because they find the rat race too stressful. I never entirely fit in to the working class culture I grew up in, and have few connections to it now. Plus being a "working class" Australian in the suburbs in the 80s was in some ways less difficult than, say, what a lot of ostensibly lower middle class Americans are experiencing now.
Then again, I guess the fact that despite these cushioning effects I've still experienced enough classism to feel pretty angry about it is testament to how totally not class free Australia is.
Anyway, yes. The cheerful way that ostensibly left wing middle class people mock and belittle the working class and people from rural areas is gross. (And I wish this went without saying, but I don't want to see any of it in my comments)
Evicting rioters' families from their homes? There's a horrible logic to it
I hate this pattern of punishing people for behaviours associated with poverty by making them more poor. I'm not saying the rioters were blameless political dissidents fighting for freedom or whatever, but the economic situation was obviously related to them feeling like rioting was a reasonable action (Although David Cameron disagrees), and I can't see how pushing their entire family onto the street is going to help matters. See also the the Australian government's tendency to cut people off welfare for sneezing in the wrong direction.
I hate this pattern of punishing people for behaviours associated with poverty by making them more poor. I'm not saying the rioters were blameless political dissidents fighting for freedom or whatever, but the economic situation was obviously related to them feeling like rioting was a reasonable action (Although David Cameron disagrees), and I can't see how pushing their entire family onto the street is going to help matters. See also the the Australian government's tendency to cut people off welfare for sneezing in the wrong direction.
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You were right, that was awesome :D
I have Things To Do Today, so no actual review, and I can't tell how objectively good it is but where with the Theif I had a sinking feeling about a plot twist and was sad to be proven right with this book I was sitting there going "Could the plot really be that awesome? Noone ever writes that..." and was filled with glee when twists happened the way I'd hoped. Though overall I think her writing would benefit from not trying to so hard to have twists at all.
Now to get my hands on the next book...
I have Things To Do Today, so no actual review, and I can't tell how objectively good it is but where with the Theif I had a sinking feeling about a plot twist and was sad to be proven right with this book I was sitting there going "Could the plot really be that awesome? Noone ever writes that..." and was filled with glee when twists happened the way I'd hoped. Though overall I think her writing would benefit from not trying to so hard to have twists at all.
Now to get my hands on the next book...
Yvi is asking for suggestions about a non-English language fest on Dreamwidth for people who don't speak English as a native language (including people who learn their culture's language later in life, but not someone like me who learnt a second language at school because it sounded like fun)
I think it sounds like a cool idea, and would be happy enough not posting for a day if that would help. I am wondering if people would prefer comments in English, my dodgy German (as appropriate), or machine translated, or if it would be better for me not to comment at all.
Es ist vielleicht besser fuer alles dass ich werde nicht eine ganz Post auf Deutsch zu schrieben :)
I think it sounds like a cool idea, and would be happy enough not posting for a day if that would help. I am wondering if people would prefer comments in English, my dodgy German (as appropriate), or machine translated, or if it would be better for me not to comment at all.
Es ist vielleicht besser fuer alles dass ich werde nicht eine ganz Post auf Deutsch zu schrieben :)
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