sundries

[rm]

Child brides in Afghanistan.

At least ten people have been killed as Israeli fires on ships intended to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. There is, I think a temptation in the US to ignore what goes on with Israel because it's a big awkward mess for us as a national politically and emotionally, but this is Very Bad and Very Significant and we should be paying attention. And, eventhough I just linked you to the New York Times, if you do follow this, you should be reading the BBC and Al-Jezeera as well.

So there's this contest that John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton have put together to raise funds for the Lupus Alliance for America. If you follow the link you'll see the contest is to write fanfiction based on a picture, and the winner gets $$ and it published. Anything is allowed -- except slash. I have to wonder if they meant (the perfectly reasonable) "anything is allowed expect explicit sex" in a (sort of annoying) misunderstanding of what slash generally means, or if a couple of guys volunteering themselves to be the subject of RPF to benefit charity really went and said "you can write anything about us you want as regards to a picture in which one of us in an orc and the other is riding a flying unicorn kitten, except icky icky homosexuality." Charity Good. Situation kinda uncomfortable even if it is about a hideous painting that... well, go to the link. Thanks for penguineggs for the heads up. Also, scalzi comments below.

In case you were unclear, as some people on the thread are: slash is not inherently porn and queer content is not inherently about sex.

TERROR: My XXX-flavour vitamin water has special packaging to promote Eclipse, the latest movie in the Twilight series. I am full of shame.

Last night on Angel and Buffy:

Mental institution episode on Buffy -- on one hand, trite device; on the other hand, well-executed. Also effectively has some interesting meta thoughts about judging response to stories. Demon summoned with digeridoo? kinda offensive. But you know, it's Buffy and you get used to it.

Also? Xander left Anya. Glad that that wasn't really Xander's future we were seeing, but the whole thing felt forced and not like it had enough arc and the episode didn't know what it wanted to be. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Curious to see what Anya will choose, as that choice seems critical to whatever the message the show is or isn't trying to have.

On Angel Gunn needed Wesley's help to save Fred and Wesley gives that speech about he forced himself to live so he could see his friends and explain what he'd done. Oh the burning, burning hate there. Time eight billion and seventy three where my reaction to Angel is to find deaths on Torchwood merciful.

There are a couple of "people need help" things going on out there, but I'm waiting to post until tomorrow when people are back on the Internet.

Comments

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I agree the "No slash, plz" thing being icky.

That said, it is sanctioned RPF and I can understand wanting to make rules about what they want or don't want written about themselves.

The "ew, gay cooties" way they phrased it was problematic, though.

[melebeth]

What _is_ the definition of slash? As someone who pretty much only reads fan fiction that you write or you point me to, and who is thus woefully uninformed about the genre, I always thought it was taking two characters from a universe and having them have sex. I.e. my impression had just always been that slash implies an explicit sexual element not that it implies a same-sex sexual element.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I thought your response to the apparent "ew icky gay ppls" tone of the post was extremely measured and polite. More likely to be taken well than the things my wife and I were shouting at each other.

The fact that Wheaton's involved made me assume that my interpretation of the tone was correct, since I haven't read his blog since he hopped on the anti-furry bandwagon. I'm glad that Scalzi and Wheaton had, apparently, simply completely gotten the whole idea wrong.

[sevendayloan.livejournal.com]

The demon was summoned with a digeridoo because the actor who plays Andrew, Tom Lenk, knows how to play one. To be honest, I'm not seeing it as any more offensive than calling a demon with an oboe. And I don't feel like it in any way ties together evil magic and Aboriginal culture, given that the digeridoo is played by enthusiasts all around the world.

That aside, these are two of my favorite episodes of Buffy, and I particularly loved Hell's Bells. Of course, Anya being a favorite character, I think that I'd love this episode regardless of what happened in it. I'm pretty sure I just saw, "Ooh, Anya! Oh, tragedy!" and stopped there. Perhaps a rewatch is in order...

About the slash thing, I'm glad to see that it was a misunderstanding, and I hope that Scalzi and Wheaton will change the rules to make things clear. :)

[elisi]

Thanks for the links.

Also? Xander left Anya. Glad that that wasn't really Xander's future we were seeing, but the whole thing felt forced and not like it had enough arc and the episode didn't know what it wanted to be.
Here is the single best meta on the episode that I've ever read, in case you'd like something more substantial. (Yes it's my journal, but I didn't write it.) That said, I think the episode kinda fails when you need an essay to explain why it's brilliant.

Wesley gives that speech about he forced himself to live so he could see his friends and explain what he'd done. Oh the burning, burning hate there.
Oh Lord yes, that speech. Actually the whole, awful situation is just one giant ball of angst. (Which of course means that I love it, even as my heart breaks for everyone.)

Time eight billion and seventy three where my reaction to Angel is to find deaths on Torchwood merciful.
Heh. See Ianto's death hit me harder than any Jossverse one, but I wasn't surprised in the least, cause Joss taught me that a writer will always, always go for maximum pain...

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Good on you re: the Scalzi/Wheaton fanfic challenge. (No change in the challenge wording -- yet. Fingers crossed!)

FYI, it looks like Metropolis is still running at Film Forum. "Held over for a limited time only!" Showings at 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

Time eight billion and seventy three where my reaction to Angel is to find deaths on Torchwood merciful.

Oh my god yes.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Demon summoned with digeridoo? kinda offensive. But you know, it's Buffy and you get used to it.

That's Buffy for you - better wrt gender than 95% of current TV, and full of much racefail.

[marita-c.livejournal.com]

The last thing these ships intended to do was bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. But, unfortunately, the IDF is run by a bunch of incompetent morons who decided to use force instead of brains to resolve this matter, which is exactly what the organizers of this demonstration hoped for.

Re: Flotilla/Israel incident

[ravenskye8.livejournal.com]

Additional information you won't find in anti-Israel biased news sources:

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/Special_Alert_Flotilla_Battle_Unleashes_Anti-Israel_Wave.asp

[sethg]

Interesting commentary from an Israeli newspaper on the flotilla incident: “Hamas, and no less, Iran and Hezbollah, learned early on that Israel's own embargo against Hamas-ruled Gaza was the most sophisticated and powerful weapon they could have deployed against the Jewish state. Here in Israel, we have still yet to learn the lesson: We are no longer defending Israel. We are now defending the siege. The siege itself is becoming Israel's Vietnam.”

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

What depresses me and angers me so about the attack on those innocents on the flotilla is we will get some tutting and thern... nothing. Israel will be able to spin it - because the US that gives so much to Israel will swallow it/ignore it. And then the next attempt to bring aid can face the same horrendous thing. This is horrendous and it cannot be ignored



On Scalzi/Wheaton. They should have said "no explicit sex" not "no slash". The former is perfectly understandable, the second sounds very "ewww, get the nasty gay away"

[supertailz.livejournal.com]

They haven't actually gotten rid of the word slash, but they have edited to add pretty much exactly what Scalzi mentioned in comments/replied to you. Basically "explicit sex bad, queer content a-ok!"