metanews | Meta Links 2014/02/06

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General Fandom

Magical Mondays: Magic and Consent: Lady Saika (blog) - " this is the case in many magical worlds, where bodily autonomy and consent fall easily in the face of a well-cast spell."

topic:consent

Tips & Ideas To Create & Write Better & More Interesting Powers: Springhole.net (blog) - "Whether for creating a superhero or supervillain OC or developing an original supernatural creature, coming up with and balancing out powers can be a pain. So, here are some pointers and ideas to take you through the whole power creation and development process."

topic:writing

Things That Show Up In Christianity-Inspired Fiction That Aren't In The Bible: Springhole.net (blog) - "This article addresses things that appear in fiction based on Biblical concepts (and that includes Dante’sInferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost), but what aren’t actually in or supported by the Bible. (Although, to be fair, some may be part of certain traditional beliefs, or part of apocryphal books and stories.)"

topic:religion

Basic Tips For Writing Orthodox Jews: Shira M. Rabinowitz (blog) - "More and more these days, Jewish characters appear in fiction, both non-Orthodox and allegedly Orthodox - most of the time when they're supposed to be Orthodox, they really aren’t. This is a list of tips to help the aspiring writer write Orthodox Jewish characters."

topic:religion, topic:writing

A brief rant about mermaids: sailorptah (DW) - "There's some post going around Tumblr about unusual/non-traditional mermaids … but then you get reactions like this Daily Dot article, which suggest the whole thing is a revolutionary new idea … People, have you ever been to Deviantart?"

topic:mermaids

Interactive Narrative and the Rise of Video Games: Roz Young (blog) - "With video games blossoming into popular, all ages entertainment for men and women, it's a good time for writers."

fandom:gaming, topic:writing,

Hit Minotaur With Sword Again: New Trends in Text Adventure: Emily Thomas - The Hooded Utilitarian (blog) - " It’s easy to think that text adventures (and their close cousins, MUDs), existed only as a stopgap until something better came along, and that text game designers were simply making the best of a bad situation. But imagining that video games progress in a straight line toward graphic excellence is like thinking that Marvelman needs to be recolored because we have better technology now."

fandom:gaming, topic:interactivefiction

My Petition to an Organization I Don’t Actually Belong To : Jim C. Hines (blog) - "I like SFWA. They do a lot of really good work. It annoys me when someone who isn’t even a member stirs up this kind of silliness, creating conflict and bad press over nonexistent “hypothetical” boogeymen or issues that were dealt with — including the solicitation of input from the entire membership — a year ago."

topic:sfwa

Can We Please Not Rewrite History, Folks? (More on the SFWA Petition, and Links.): SL Huang (blog) - "The thing that blew up the Internet was when Resnick and Malzberg decided to respond to those (respectful, muted) criticisms of their columns by scorching the fucking Earth. By calling their detractors “liberal fascists,” comparing their critics to Stalin and Mao, and making references to censorship and thought control."

topic:sfwa

Oh Dear: SFWA Bulletin Petition: Natalie Luhrs (blog) - " I don’t understand why some people are constantly conflating their desire to say anything they want, wherever they want, with private organizations’ right to moderate spaces that they own."

topic:swfa

Specific Fandoms

A Song of Ice and Fire
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Dany VIII : Steven Attewell (blog) - "The main event of this chapter is Drogo’s death-in-all-but-name and the political fallout that results. And it’s significant that this crucial turning point balances on the importance of culture."

fandom:asoiaf

Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Catelyn X: Steven Attewell (blog) - "It’s not an accident that GRRM chooses the moment when Robb rides off with all the hopes of House Stark on his shoulders to tell us that “no one was safe. No life was certain.” The basic rule of thumb that goes all the way to the Red Wedding and beyond is right there in the first book."

fandom:asoiaf

Bring It On
Femslash Friday: Bring It On: Mallory Ortberg - The Toast (blog) - "There are times I feel very sure that if I were to let a copy of Bring It On rest against a copy of But I’m A Cheerleader, some sort of lesbian osmosis will take place and I will be able to watch a version of this movie where Missy and Torrance make out in the last scene."

fandom:bringiton topic:femslash

Comics
“A Fantasy Solution to Real Problems” – Howard Chaykin and Superhero Fascism: Brannon Costello - The Hooded Utilitarian (blog) - "... a cursory examination of superhero comics from nearly any era reveals a plethora of characters, imagery, and stories that resonate broadly with the ideals and aesthetics associated with historical fascist movements in the twentieth century, whatever the ideals or intentions of the writers and artists of those comics."

fandom:comics, topic:fascism

Da Vinci's Demons
Why You Should Watch Da Vinci's Demons: unsettledink (DW) - "It is glorious. It is kind of terrible. It is a ton of ridiculous. (I feel like all I really need to sum up all three of those things is to say "It's on Starz", and suddenly everyone understands.) And no one seems to be watching it. D:"

fandom:davincisdemons

Diana Wynne Jones - Eight Days of Luke
So I've just read Eight Days of Luke.: chordatesrock (LJ) - "Since more ableist news doesn't even make me angry anymore, I'm going to avoid feeling dead inside by writing a book review. Of a children's book. That isn't even aimed at me. Or you, most likely. The book is Eight Days of Luke, by Diana Wynne Jones."

fandom:dianawynnejones, fandom:mcu, fandom:norsemyths,

Frozen
In Brightest Day: Emotional Abuse in Frozen: MadameAce (blog) - " I knew that I didn’t really like Elsa’s and Anna’s parents when I first saw the movie, but it wasn’t until the second or third time through that I realized I disliked them because of how abusive they were to their daughters."

fandom:frozen, fandom:disney, warning:abuse

The Frozen Girl: Visual Cues and Evil Femininity: S.E. Sinkhorn (blog) - "In the brief quiet as the song ended and the door slammed shut, the little girl in the seat in front of me turned to her mother and whispered, "Did she just turn bad?""

fandom:frozen, fandom:disney

The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie: Are We Lego, Or Are We Meta-Lego?: fenzel - Overthinking It (blog) - "Stories work like this. A lot. You can zoom in a story in many of respects, and zoom out on just as many. And sometimes, of course, stories do it to themselves. Newer stories tend to do it more often than older ones. Community does it constantly."

fandom:thelegomovie

MCU
Reasons Why Asgard (Marvel Earth-199999) Probably Really Sucks: Springhole.net (blog) - "Odin exhibits tyrannical and even psychopathic behavior. Odin may be responsible for the collapse of an entire civilization... and maybe even more. Asgardian culture is absurdly patriarchal. Asgard cannot possibly sustain its own population."

fandom:mcu

Mass Effect
Kaidan Alenko, and why adding “extra” issues isn’t always a good thing: jillusiveman (tumblr) - "me just sorting out thoughts about biotics and kaidan’s past, mostly because I’m replaying through one, and it’s always super interesting to look back at things now, and actually reflect on them as a whole picture, with the entire trilogy as context."

fandom:gaming

Sherlock
'Sherlock' cut a scene of John and Sherlock at a 'gay club': Aja Romano - Daily Dot (blog) - "Stephen Moffat, has said he doesn’t see why the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (known to fans as “Johnlock”) should be “weirdly sexualized.” But he can’t seem to stop filling the show with evidence to the contrary. "

fandom:bbcsherlock

Sleepy Hollow
Lurking Under the Surface of Sleepy Hollow: Diversity Casting versus Use of Stereotypes: samiandnemanjagotothemovies (tumblr) - "somehow, in all the praise for its diversity casting, I failed to ask the primary question that I should have, which is whether or not the show’s portrayal of ethnicity and culture is actually worthwhile. Spoiler: it really isn’t."

topic:race, topic:diversity, topic:writing, fandom:sleepyhollow

Solaris
A Tale of Two Solarises...or, Solarii? : Vance K - Nerds of a Feather (blog) - "Solyaris is an Ingmar Bergman movie set in space. It is slow, yet thought-provoking and gripping. But though it tells the same story (albeit almost entirely in closeups) there is literally nothing for me to recommend about Solaris. I thought a lot about the "Why?" and I believe it's because Tarkovsky's film has a lived-in, frumpy quality that makes it extraordinarily human."

fandom:solaris,

Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf Discussion (Adrian Harris; Stiles & The Nemeton) | 3.17 Silverfinger Extended Promo: spikedluv (DW) - "But yes, so let’s talk about Adrian Harris possibly being the big bad of 3b."

fandom:teenwolf

Welcome to Night Vale
Magical Mondays: The Mundane and the Magical in Welcome to Night Vale: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "today I will be discussing how the magical surrealist nature of Welcome to Night Vale’s storytelling actually makes the mundane things that we experience every day seem more magical."

fandom:wtnv