sundries

[rm]

Help me with something: name a temporary city that only exists periodically -- Pennsic. Burning Man. What else? Anywhere in the world. Not just geek-related.

I keep hearing we're supposed to get at least a sliver of the snowpocalypse, but there's been nary a flake.

Patty and I had the most awesome night last night. We picnicked on the floor -- fondue with potatoes, carrots, salami, apples, and also pesto sauce for dipping. And then we watched tons of Buffy.

I would like to state for the record that Ted was almost an impossible episode for me to watch (btw, I don't think it's a bad episode; I think it's pretty great, really, it's just not pleasant and hard for me to sit through) -- it punched all of my buttons, none of them good -- about never being believed (because you are female, an only child, unusual, imaginative), being threatened with institutionalization as a power play (it's happened to me, it's happened to friends), and gendered violence & humiliation (the "little lady" thing was causing me to want to flee the room). I really, really, almost couldn't watch it.

Also, Kendra's apparently Jamaican accent? Yikes. There is a lot of race fail one really has to overlook to get through this show (and the only reason there isn't more, it seems, is through sins of omission because IT IS SO WHITE, although I fully acknowledge I might not have noticed that when it was actually airing, although living in NYC and DC, I hope I would have).

I'm also still uncomfortable with the level of rape metaphor/content. I get that Wheedon isn't fetishizing rape in the gross way TV programs often do. I also get the necessity of its acknowledgement in a show about a young woman facing danger. But I can't get past a feeling of nice guy self-congratulatoriness I feel like I'm sensing in it. It's not handled badly (I thought the Giles/Jenny convo about "Your behavior is making me feel bad for not feeling better" was particularly smart), but I sort of want to yell at them for asking for a cookie quite so loudly.

But I really am enjoying the hell out of the show. Just watching many episodes close together gives me a way to see patterns (and feel saturated with themes) in a way that was different for peopel who watched it once a week and with seasonal breaks.

Yes, of course I'm still desperately interested in all things Whoniverse This Buffy thing is less a break and more of a refuge, because I'm about to descend into writing my paper for Bristol and what may be a very tense panel/audience relationship at Gally. Also, I'm working on making my relationship with melancholy and grieving a feature, not a bug, which means caring about other sorts of plots sometimes, although I realize Buffy will probably transmute into more of the same for me eventually.

Thanks to gay marriage legalization Mexico City now at center of debate.

FDA reconsiders portion size. Because no, no one eats 8 corn chips and then puts away the bag.

fireflygirl tells us of the lonliest whale.

The restoration of a movie palace.

The end of St. Vincent's. Shocking, I think particularly, to those who remember its centrality during the emergence of AIDS.

Something is up, and I know not what, with Amazon.com stocking my book. If you're looking for the print edition (as opposed to the Kindle edition), right now your best bet is B&N.

Comments

[laura47.livejournal.com]

fireflyartscollective.org is a regional burning man event, and a large part of my heart lives there. It is like burning man in many ways, but for me it is very different.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

On second thought, has anyone suggested White City yet? It was built exclusively for the 1893 World's Exposition and though the buildings stuck around for awhile they weren't used after that.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

Ugh, Ted. :/

And, yeah. The only people of color on Buffy who are not evil/do not end up dead show up in the 7th season (so, 2002-2003 here). Apparently there were bets on how long it would take Joss to kill off Principal Wood.

Just prepare yourself for a long journey down the late 90s love tunnel of cultural appropriation/racism city.

(There is a GREAT fanvid about all of the BtVS racefail that you shouldn't watch until you're done...)

[frodo-esque.livejournal.com]

It's very exciting to read as you watch Buffy for the first time, just think-- you have six more seasons, and they're all great.

Interesting that you notice so many rape metaphors, you are more keyed into looking for these than I ever was.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

I want to meet this whale. I wonder if that will ever be possible, especially in a way that wouldn't be traumatic for the whale.

There's a little more mystery in the world, because of this whale.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Joss writes a lot of rape-flavored stories. It's a lot of why I didn't watch Dollhouse. The first two eps were too far into 'sexy women in peril' territory without giving the women any agency at all for me to be interested (or anything but uncomfortable trying to watch it for entertainment).

In Buffy it's less troubling for me because it's more reflective of the experience of living in a culture where these things are a concern. Yeah, some of it is really self-congratulatory, and I'd rather see him do other things than rape every week, but considering he's writing about high school, when women start having to navigate these things more and more frequently, it's easier for me to accept as relevant.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

God, yes, Ted was indeed a hard episode to watch. I think the part that pushed my particular button(s), though, was the part where Buffy's mom didn't believe her when she told her Ted had hit her. So painfully reflective of real life, but that doesn't make it any easier to see, especially not when it's such a familiar situation.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Sorry, just wanted to add that you're not alone in feeling qualms about Whedon's cookie-begging tendencies. Sometimes I think he tries a litte bit too hard and it seems contrived. It's late right now, so I'm having a hard time putting my finger on any specific instances, but I definitely get the vibe.

[meirion.livejournal.com]

Not really a city, I suppose, but certainly a temporary community:

http://www.l-invitu.net/svegliu.htm

I am already booking my tickets there this year. I suppose they've been going so long that the infrastructure has become more permanently settled.

[pin-drop.livejournal.com]

I don't know what you're writing or what your needs are, so I have no idea if this will be useful to you, but have you thought about things which are mobile and house lots of people (houseboats, ocean liners, tour buses, etc)? Good luck.