sundries

[rm]

Found my passport and cash card. Yay.

Oh god, menstruation. Ow.

New tomatoes have finally been put in the garden.

Diana Gabaldon has posted more on the subject of fanfiction and has promised a third post on the subject. You know where to find it if you want it.

Of course, when things like this happen, a couple of things always happen in response. First, fandom unites. Second, we all play lawyers on the Internet. I like to try to avoid doing the second, and I don't always succeed. I apologize for that, because it doesn't actually improve the discourse.

However, here's the deal. I am a published writer. I plan to be an even more published writer. And I write fanfiction. And I will never stop writing fanfiction. And I do not believe what I do to be illegal. And so, unless you are a lawyer, and, more specifically, my lawyer, I'd appreciate you not telling me I'm committing a crime, disrespecting authors or not being a Real Writer. I won't listen to you, and I'll probably even be cranky, and sadly, not necessarily gracefully. I do know my flaws, if nothing else.

But here's the part I where I get really flumoxed: fandom and fanfiction are HUGE parts of what I do. I met my partner through fanfiction. I write fanfiction with my friends. I have published perfectly legal work for money that is arguably in the category of fanfiction. I do scholarship about fandom and fan culture. And yes, to be super blunt, I read porn people write about other people's characters on the Internet, and every once in a while it has changed my life.

I'm not interested in defending fanfic, although I sure get called to a lot in all sorts of ways. And when it's not about how it's illegal or how I'm wasting my life with low-culture (arguments I have nearly always lost in the minds of those who start them before the discussion even begins, because they are almost always about scolding and shaming, achieving status by denigrating another's, and playing that serious man vs. silly woman card¹), I am pretty much always interested in talking about it.

Of course, because I have no self-control and am easily indignant, I get into these things where I want to mention the Gabaldon thing in passing and then here I am defending fanfiction or playing a lawyer on the Internet or otherwise engaging the topic in a way that is counterproductive for me, you, and it.

But seriously, if you think the existence of fanfiction, the enjoyment of it, the respect for it, the curiosity about it, the creation of it is illegal, immoral or a weakness of character, then I would seriously, seriously question why you're here. While this is something we can agree to disagree on to a given extent because, ultimately, your views don't affect me, if you think I'm immoral or criminal or just pathetic... well, I just don't get it, no matter how much you like my other content. But hey, an audience is an audience, and ultimately this stuff is more about you than me. *shrug*

Meanwhile, from the department of credit where credit is due: Apparently Sen. McCain doesn't think the Time Square bombing suspect should have been read his Miranda rights, despite being a US citizen arrested on US soil. Glenn Beck, however, does. At least that's what The Daily Show tells me. Yes folks, I'm agreeing with Glenn Beck. What the hell?

Ethics for Extraterrestrials

Anti-gay activist returns from European vacation with rent-boy.

Help ensure relationship equality in Hawaii.

When languages meet. Or, China tries do something about those wacky English signs.

Last night on Angel it was time for Lorne's ridiculous backstory. There's a lot wrong with this episode, including Lorne's cousin's "this monotone is how we tell you he is a Viking" and Cordy getting food posioning while eating the food in question, but there's a lot right with it too, including the parallel between Lorne's cousin not dying while Gunn's dead friend sorta winds up with the Viking funeral. Also, Hollywood sucks. And Angel? Is a COMPLETE asshole. Who the fuck arbitrarily shows up at someone else's JOB? Also, can anything happen that doesn't make Wesley make the "my heart is breaking" face? I ask you that, and can only think of Ianto's father pushing him too hard on the swings.

---

¹ Seriously. As much as I have a lot of discomfort with the "fanfiction is by women for women" angle that the OTW promotes because I don't live in a world that dichotomous and I'm in a fandom that is much less gender-skewed than many others, fanfiction discussions get ugly on gendered terms very, very quickly as a rule. Whether that's the craft and significance of fic getting dismissed because it's "just women," the policing of female and queer sexuality, the fetishization of the men who do write fanfiction (or accusations of same), or the calling people out for just wanting attention (hello mode of women attacking other women that Gabaldon engaged in so effectively in her first screed on the subject), this stuff happens all the time. I can't tell you how often in a fanfiction discussion someone has said to me something along the lines of "I thought you were a serious woman" as opposed to "I thought you were a serious person." It's deeply, deeply telling.

Comments

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

Ah, the Gabaldon thing. I'd been vaguely meaning to read her books, as several fannish types had mentioned them positively, but life is short, books are plentiful, and presently I feel only distaste for her. (And I'm still REELING from learning that her protagonist is based on Jamie from Doctor Who; I'll do her the courtesy of assuming that his 20th Century love interest is not a self-insert, but I understand that not only does she incorporate various characters from other people's stories into her books, but it's also fairly pornalicious stuff. So...er, that's most of the things about fanfiction that apparently make her want to barf right there, as far as I can see. Um. Yeah. Still boggling like a boggling thing.)

Aha! You're at the odd 3-part Over The Rainbow culmination of Season 2 of Angel! Jolly good. (I did find Numfar's Dance of Joy hilarious in its unexpectedness, and I was delighted Andy Hallet got more screen time. Also, Angel being distracted by his reflection & the remarks about the hair did make me giggle. Bless. But, yes, he is mighty with the assholedom, and Wesley is my boy. I &hearts Wesley even more than he &hearts Gunn. With regard to that, as you are now approaching Season 3, I should perhaps say that....

WHAT FOLLOWS IS SPOILERISH IN GENERAL TERMS, NOT IN ANY SPECIFIC POINTS - WHETHER YOU WISH TO AVOID IT IS UP TO YOU....

....

....Season 3, whilst containing some very good things, took me to the point where I found I no longer gave a flying fuck about most of the ensemble, other than Wesley, and where I mostly wanted to punch Angel in the throat. I've not rewatched it for years, but I think that this reaction was very much from my Wesley-is-my-favourite-and-you-should-all-back-the-fuck-off-now point of view, and may not have been an entirely fair critique of the season as a whole. (I mean, it may be perfectly fair - I'd need to rewatch & try to be dispassionate about it. I just remember that at the time, I was in a very defensive place wrt Wesley's narrative arc. Whilst also having huge admiration for Alexis Denisov's impressive range. Jings, he can turn on a dime.)

Anyway, ijs that I remember railing at the heavens - or, well, the writers - and it is possible that you may find yourself in similar straits. If you're thinking about Ianto's father pushing him too hard on the swings at this point in canon, then I'm thinking your partiality to Wesley is perhaps quite like my own. In which case Season 3 may lead you to a HULK SMASH!!! place. But hang in there! Because Wesley keeps on bringing the awesome, and then some, and Season 4 does do quite a lot to redeem Season 3. imho. ymmv)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Do we ever meet Wesley's father?

That phone conversation really, really reminded me of convos I had with my father in the bad ol' days.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

In s5. Sort of. ::bites tongue::

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

We do, in fact. It is an episode I mostly spent flailing at the screen and chewing my knuckles unhappily, wanting the world to give Wesley hugs and puppies. And instead the world pretty much tears out his heart and stomps on it, whilst laughing. Ack. Brilliantly inventive episode, as I recall, but quite wrenching, on a number of levels.

God, Wesley really does get put through the wringer, bless him.

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

Um - but he does sometimes get hugs and puppies in canon too! Shouldn't gloss over that. Um. Or at least hot sex, and cuddles.

And lots and LOTS of being awesome. Really - he cranks it up to eleven.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Wesley does seem to get laid more than anyone else on the team.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I'm another person who watched the entire third season with my face like this: D: D: D: D: - but it's still my favourite season. Full disclosure though, I do quite like having my guts wrenched. I thought it was so well done, and not just from Denisof (though he is absolutely fantastic), on all fronts. Just as a piece of writing, it took some guts, I thought, and to follow it through, and keep on following it through for seasons after, when it would have been so easy to come to a point and then hit reset.

Though I admit I'm rewatching S3 at the moment, and fast approaching the point where there's a little voice in my head going, OMG, I don't wanna watch any more...

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

I really love the way Wesley develops throughout the series. Denisov's range really blew me away, too- had had this role that could have been really bland and he made it so awesome! He was dark and dramatic, he was funny, he was goofy, he did it all.

The visit to Pileah I found amusing. Like most of Whedon, I found it weak in some points and strong in others. I don't expect a lot of depth from Whedon, so when I get it I am pleasantly surprised, and when I don't, I can enjoy some fluff.

I also love Wesley's season 3 relationship... it absolutely delighted me. It was so unexpected and refreshing.

Angel is hundreds of years old and finds that he relates best to people in their teens and early 20s. Mature he is not.

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

I also love Wesley's season 3 relationship... it absolutely delighted me. It was so unexpected and refreshing.

Oh, agreed - I loved Wesley throughout Season 3, and A.D. got some really fantastic stuff to play. It's just that I wanted to punch everyone else in the throat, by the end of the season.

(I had no interest in what was going to happen next to Angel, Cordy or Gunn or Fred, pretty much, by the finale - I would totally have tuned in to watch a Season 4 that involved Wesley, Justine and Connor, though.)

Season 4 did win me over, however. And Season 5 brought some terrific episodes - God, the double whammy that is 'Smile Time' followed by 'A Hole In The World' - good GRIEF, that was quite the emotional rollercoaster.

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

I couldn't stand Connor, personally- he was so repetitive and pouty and boring to me. I think Connor was something of a shark-jump, honestly. And Justine, I think, suffered from the combination of shallow conception/overacting that so often bothers me on Whedon's shows.

I agree, S5 had some great episodes; I was basically on the edge of my seat the whole time.