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metanews2015-04-17 11:22 am
metanewsmods) wrote in metanews2015-04-17 11:22 am
Entry tags:
- fandom:12monkeys,
- fandom:acdsherlock,
- fandom:agentcarter,
- fandom:agentsofshield,
- fandom:angel,
- fandom:anime,
- fandom:arresteddevelopment,
- fandom:arrow,
- fandom:asoiaf,
- fandom:batmantv1966,
- fandom:bbcsherlock,
- fandom:bitten,
- fandom:black-ish,
- fandom:btvs,
- fandom:comics,
- fandom:daredevil,
- fandom:dccomics,
- fandom:disney,
- fandom:doctorwho,
- fandom:dragonage,
- fandom:exmachina,
- fandom:fairytales,
- fandom:finalfantasy,
- fandom:forever,
- fandom:gameofthrones,
- fandom:gaming,
- fandom:glee,
- fandom:grimm,
- fandom:harrypotter,
- fandom:helix,
- fandom:home,
- fandom:izombie,
- fandom:jamesbond,
- fandom:jrrtolkien,
- fandom:labyrinth,
- fandom:ladystar,
- fandom:lastmanonearth,
- fandom:legend,
- fandom:legendofzelda,
- fandom:leverage,
- fandom:literature,
- fandom:lostriver,
- fandom:madmen,
- fandom:manga,
- fandom:marvelcomics,
- fandom:mcu,
- fandom:olympus,
- fandom:onedirection,
- fandom:onepiece,
- fandom:outlander,
- fandom:salem,
- fandom:startrek,
- fandom:starwars,
- fandom:stevenuniverse,
- fandom:supernatural,
- fandom:the100,
- fandom:theamericans,
- fandom:theflash,
- fandom:thefosters,
- fandom:thereturned,
- fandom:thewalkingdead,
- fandom:thewindrises,
- fandom:twinpeaks,
- fandom:vorkosigansaga,
- fandom:wheretheboysare,
- fandom:wrestling,
- fandom:x-men,
- topic:adaptations,
- topic:animaltranformation,
- topic:ao3,
- topic:awards,
- topic:censorship,
- topic:copyright,
- topic:criticism,
- topic:culture,
- topic:disability,
- topic:diversity,
- topic:drama,
- topic:dystopia,
- topic:fandom,
- topic:fanfic,
- topic:fantasy,
- topic:feedback,
- topic:femalecharacter,
- topic:femslash,
- topic:fiction,
- topic:history,
- topic:hugoawards,
- topic:humor,
- topic:lgbt,
- topic:livejournal,
- topic:merchandise,
- topic:movies,
- topic:myth,
- topic:originalcharacter,
- topic:psychology,
- topic:race,
- topic:racism,
- topic:relationships,
- topic:religion,
- topic:representation,
- topic:reviewing,
- topic:revival,
- topic:scam,
- topic:science,
- topic:sciencefiction,
- topic:setting,
- topic:sex,
- topic:sexism,
- topic:shipping,
- topic:socialjustice,
- topic:tropes,
- topic:tumblr,
- topic:whitewashing,
- topic:writing,
- warning:abuse,
- warning:rape,
- warning:spoilers,
- warning:violence
8 April 2015-14 April 2015
Notices
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General Fandom
An exercise in futility: Charlie Stross (blog) - "A piece of ebook-reader software called Clean Reader has been generating headlines and causing indignation among authors recently"
Jewish Fanfiction Creates an Alternate Literary Universe: Marjorie Ingall (blog) - "So, is it any wonder that there's a whole world of Jewish fanfic out there?"
We Need To Talk About Dragons - John Mullan, George RR Martin, Game of Thrones and the triumph of fantasy fiction: Maureen K. Speller (blog) - "It was something of a surprise to find John Mullan discussing fantasy fiction in the Guardian just a week ago. A surprise because, on past accounting, Mullan and genre fiction do not make natural bedfellows."
Fanfic at The New Yorker: Teresa (blog) - "I feel like I should mark it on my calendar: four days ago, The New Yorker published The True History of Jewish Wizards at Hogwarts by Nathaniel Stein."
Our toxic remake culture: Why do we insist on making the same old white-guy movies over and over?: Arthur Chu (blog) - "Like it or not — despite the many, many hectoring jeremiads by the people who fall on the "not" side of the argument — "remake culture" seems to be here to stay. The most anticipated films of the upcoming year are all adaptations of or sequels to works that are decades old."
Modern Feedback: charlotte_frost (LJ) - "Once I started posting stories to Archive of Our Own, on an as-I-feel-lik-it basis, it's taken me a while to adjust to the "kudos" thing."
You Belong To Me: Laura Miller (blog) - "Once exiled to obscure corners of the internet, fanfiction — amateur fiction based on characters from preexisting works or real-life celebrities — has lately become a force driving popular culture."
Fan Fiction's Power Play: Word of Mouth (radio program) - "Once relegated to fanzines and the occasional bookstore, "fan fiction" is quickly becoming more accessible, more mainstream, and in some cases, more of a headache for authors who inspired the fans in the first place. On today's show, why some authors are bucking against the trend."
The civil war to save classic video games: Dennis Scimeca (blog) - "On Wednesday the Electronic Frontier Foundation published a report maintaining that the video game industry—as represented by the Entertainment Software Association—was against preserving legacy games due to hacking concerns."
PERSPECTIVES III: "What is Science Fiction? Or, Hell, What is Genre?": The G, Vance K, and English Scribbler (blog) - "All three discussants in this month's Blogtable offered compelling visions of what, if anything, makes science fiction science fictional."
Censure vs. Censor: A Blog Carnival: Various (blog) - "Megan Purdy hosted a Blog Carnival on Censure vs. Censor over at Women Write About Comics."
Web Crush Wednesdays: OC Survey: Tsunderin (blog) - "OC Survey is just what it sounds like: a survey about OCs. Pretty simple, right? Earlier this year the call went out to anyone interested to take part of a multifaceted study digging into the physical and psychological aspects of their OCs."
12-Year Old Girl Takes the Gaming Industry to Task Over Paying for Female Characters: Dan Van Winkle (blog) - "Free-to-play games have their share of problems that apply to everyone—they make downloading and playing the game on a basic level free, but extra features, characters, and other bonuses generally require the player to pay up. That can be frustrating, but it gets even worse when you look at which of these games charge players to use a female character, and 12-year-old Madeline Messer did just that."
Women in Games Segment Addresses the Gaming Industry's Gender Problem on Australia's Good Game: Dan Van Winkle (blog with video link) - "Most importantly, they make the point that improving diversity in games doesn't hurt anyone."
Meet the Youtube Anime Community: Uve (blog) - "It's the gathering of different youtubers who review manga and anime regularly after every chapter/episode is released."
Gaugng Interest: moduno (LJ) - "I'm looking into possibly re-opening the community for activity.">
Tumblr Fandom Doesn't Owe You Sales: The Fans Who Are Ruining Everything (This Week): Megan Purdy (blog) - "There is not, however, a Tumblr-specific problem of fake fans who can't be converted from casual appreciators into enthusiastic consumers. Artists are owed credit for their work and payment where it is requested or required, but they are not owed customers or engagement in their preferred mode. Let's unpack."
Tough but Funny: Tone and the Art of Resilience: quinn (blog) - "It occurs to me that the tone of a piece of media is often determined by the resiliency of its protagonists."
A Tale of Two Characters: N.K. Jemisin (blog) - "So here's a (hopefully) interesting exercise. I'm going to compare reviewer comments on two of my protagonists: Oree Shoth from The Broken Kingdoms, and Gatherer Ehiru from The Killing Moon."
Trying to think of narratives that do something similar to SU's gem fusion: snarp (DW) - Examples of other canons that fuse or split characters the way that Steven Universe does
Fantasy's Othering Fetish, Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3: Phenderson Djeli Clark (blog) - "Over the years demands for more meaningful diversity in our fantasy realms have grown increasingly louder–a clarion call that echoes from the mundane world to haunt our usual lands of elves, dragons, orcs and whatnot."
Context as Crisis: The Street is a Book: Daniel Jose Older (blog) - "It's become a lit-crit cliché to say a book's setting is like a character. But it's conflict, as Robert McKee writes, that is the music of story; how can setting function as conflict, as crisis?"
Fighting Words: Thoughts on Prose Style Prompted by John Wick: Max Gladstone - "After the credits rolled, I stood and paced the house thinking, how on earth could I accomplish that same effect in prose? How could I write scenes that felt like those?"
Untitled: harpijka (Tumblr) - "Large fandoms—things like Doctor Who, or Supernatural, or Star Trek, or any superhero comic—tend to have unique and separate sides to them: curative and transformative."
The Myths of Disability in Life and Fiction: Holly Kench (blog) - "When we accept these myths, it's as though we are accepting 'rules' for how people experience disability."
On the Reposting of Fanfiction: author_by_night (DW) - "The thing is, this isn't the only infringement - and it is infringement - I have seen."
EbookTree and Fanwork Content: AO3 News (blog) - "Upon further investigation, it became clear that Ebooks Tree is not hosting MOBI files of AO3 works, but linking directly to the versions hosted on the AO3 servers, and we do not currently believe they are hosting PDF files, either."
Dystopical films: Why is the future on film always so grim?: Joe Queenan (other) - "We are now living in a golden age of dystopian films; that is, incredibly depressing films set at some point in the future – often, the relatively near future – where life is a complete mess and no one is happy, not even the fascist scum who run things"
What Are The Comic Book Ages? What Are The Defining Moments: various authors (forum) - "There is a generally held belief that (mostly) American superhero comic book history can be divided into various ages, and usually it goes:
Golden Age
Silver Age
Bronze Age"
Specific Fandom
12 Monkeys
12 Monkeys, Season One, Episode Thirteen: Arms of Mine: Renee (blog) - "That was the season finale of 12 Monkeys. One of the things which irritated me about this show is that it asks a lot of questions without providing a single answer."
The 100
I went to Amsterdam for a week & all I came back with is this new fandom: marina (DW) - "But on the other hand The 100 has... women. Women, women, women."
The 100 and the exodus from Egypt (spoilers through Season 2) coffeeandink (DW) - " So anyway: I've been thinking for a while about how The 100 is shaped by Passover, and particularly by how much of the series is variations on the exodus from Egypt. I don't mean that the show is an allegory, or that it's a literal retelling of the Book of Exodus IN SPACE, but that the narrative uses and comments on the tropes of Exodus."
if you find yourself lost, dig: musesfool (DW) - "Not only does it have a number of amazing and varied female characters main, recurring, and tertiary (♥INDRA♥), it avoids the 'typical' CW love triangle nonsense, and, most importantly, it follows through on things.
Agent Carter
Mega Marvel Rewatch: Agent Carter, concluded: owlmoose (DW) - Thoughts on rewatching the last three episodes of Agent Carter
Agents of SHIELD
What's the Deal with the POC Characters on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?: A.L. Baroza (blog) - "While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., at first glance, is diverse in its casting (at least of its secondary recurring cast members and guest stars; its regulars are largely white), the series reveals an unsettling pattern of how these characters of color are depicted."
The Americans
Crime and Punishment: 'The Americans' Soars in Its Brutal Third Season: Andy Greenwald (blog) - "To say that The Americans has become punishingly grim in its brilliant third season isn't exactly right."
The Americans is on one of the best runs of episodes in TV drama history: Todd VanDerWerff (blog) - "Right now, FX's spy drama The Americans is in the kind of incredible stretch of episodes TV dramas sometimes hit in the middle of their runs. With the characters firmly established and the stakes of the plot in place, a series can carefully start blowing up assumptions and turning the screws tighter and tighter to see how the characters get out of steadily worsening situations."
Why Paige from 'The Americans' is TV's most progressive Christian: Jeff Jensen (blog) - "Will this be the week that Paige Jennings gives up on her faith on The Americans? I keep waiting for it to happen."
Shocking sex, vicious violence and exquisite betrayal: "The Americans" keeps testing our limits, week after week: Anna Silman (blog) - "This is a show that has always tested viewers emotionally, and this long-awaited moment was exactly the gut-punch we were anticipating"
Angel
Untitled: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "This is why I say he's done most of his bad deeds with a soul. Not because he can't use it as an excuse. But because he does use it as an excuse, only to find the good in the bad deed. He finds the good angle and runs with it."
Arrested Development
It's time to give 'Arrested Development the proper burial it deserves: Feliks Garcia (blog) - "But lately, the Internet's gone a little off the rails with its televisual necromancing, not only communicating with the dead through their streaming states, but also playing God and reanimating some corpses without considering whether or not that's what their spirit even wants."
Arrow
The Psychology of Inspirational Women: Black Canary (Laurel Lance): Dr. Janina Scarlet (blog) - Analysis of Laurel Lance from a psychologist's point of view
White Canary and Arrow's Habit of Whitewashing: Keith Chow (blog) - "Being a big fan of Caity's, I'm stoked she's coming back to the universe. The only problem is, despite the character's name, White Canary ain't, uh, white."
Batgirl
The Last Batgirl Story: Sarah Register (blog) - -"The Killing Joke is touted as the "Definitive Joker Story," and while it is certainly one of his darkest and most memorable chapters, it's Barbara Gordon that is ultimately defined by the story."
Batman TV (1966)
60s Batman: A Giant Sprawling Post About It: thingswithwings (DW) - " Below are the many many many thoughts I had while making this vid."
Bitten
Bitten Season 2, episode 9: Scavenger's Daughter: Sparky (blog) - " Last week ended on a dramatic moment – the witches were all going to die! So clearly this week must begin with a flashback to one year ago"
Bitten, Season 2, Episode 10: Fine Temporum: Sparky (blog) - "I've been a bit luke-warm this season. I think it has had a severe pacing and distraction problem."
Black-ish
'Black-ish' Doesn't Perpetuate Racist Stereotypes; It Expertly Demolishes Them: Pilot Viruet (blog) - "The headline "Shows like 'Black-ish' perpetuate racist stereotypes" is so far-reaching and so desperate for controversy clicks under the pretense of being a conversation starter — it's no surprise it comes on the heels of Deadline's recent article about "ethnics" on television — that it almost reads as master satire."
Buffy
Untitled: apprenticebard, oncemorewithwalkers, anightofslayage (Tumblr) - "I just would like to say that it is such bull crap the way the scoobies treat Buffy when she comes back in season 3."
A disturbing parallel: The Bronze Balcony: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "There's many parallels between Giles and Spike."
What Your Soulless Vampire Counterpart Says About You: Liam/Angel/Angelus: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "I have to start this post by saying that I'm very much a fan of the idea that Angel and Angelus are essentially the same being, though I don't think that means that Angel is 'really' a horrible person who secretly wants to murder all his friends."
Spike implied that vampires can be 'housebroken': areanna123 (Tumblr) - "Of course there is a lot to look at regarding the Angel&Spike relationship in that episode, but what I was wondering about was when Spike realizes that something is off with Angel/us. He doesn't know about the soul thing at this point, all he knows is that Angel/us is not being himself. One of the things he says about it is-"This tortured thing is an act, right? You're not housebroken?""
Untitled: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Does anyone else wonder who exactly Dawn was before she became Dawn?"
Untitled: demandingbillydolls (Tumblr) - "Weird thought on some BtVS comics opinions I've seen floating around."
Headcanon: Everyone thought Buffy was Bi/Lesbian in season 3: areanna123 (Tumblr) - "This post isn't about where Buffy falls on the Kinsey. I'm just saying that from an outsiders perspective, like Buffy's classmates, they may very well have thought that Buffy come out of the closet during her senior year, and I'll tell you why."
What your soulless vampire counterpart says about you: Harmony Kendall: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "I think that the relationship between a souled being and their unsouled vampire counterpart is much more complex than we're led to believe."
Faith Lehane and internalized misogyny: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "Faith's had an extremely unstable life. She's an orphan and probably grew up with seeing everyone as competition more than most people. She probably had to in order to survive."
An irrelevant rant on the merits of Spike in relation to Buffy: thenotcanadian (Tumblr) - "Here's my Spuffy rant, because I should get to have one and I make myself mad by reading people's comments."
Captain America
What an African-American Captain America means for Marvel: Alex Abad-Santos (blog) - "In November, Sam Wilson, the African-American hero known as Falcon, was chosen to take on the title of Captain America in his own comic book."
Daredevil
Marvel's 'Daredevil' makes an exciting if unoriginal debut on Netflix: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "As a gritty superhero crime drama entering an already crowded field, Daredevil stands out in a couple of ways."
Why Isn't Netflix's New Daredevil Series Available For The Blind?: Charlie Jane Anders (blog) - "Netflix isn't making Daredevil available in audio description, which is a format where a specially added soundtrack features a person describing the action in between pieces of dialogue."
NOC Recaps Daredevil: Marvel's Got DC Throwing Tantrums: Eric S.B. (blog) - "Rather than hash out point by point what happens, let's look at reasons why the first episode of Marvel and Netflix's Daredevil is one of the best first episodes of anything ever filmed; superhero or otherwise."
'Daredevil' Season 1 Review: Rachel A (blog) - "As superhero premises go, this one is strongly in the vein of Batman or Arrow, except our protagonist does not start out as a rich playboy."
'Daredevil': Mysteries, Easter Eggs and Theories: Andrew Wheeler (blog) - "So let's unpack some of the mysteries, Easter eggs, teasers, and in-jokes from Daredevil, and speculate wildly on where all this is going to go in the other Netflix solo series, and perhaps even in Daredevil season two."
Daredevil is the Hero we need and deserve: Shawn Taylor (blog) - "I feel the same way about Daredevil's first season as I did about the first season of the rebooted Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) series: "How in the hell can TV be this good?""
Daredevil: ugh: astolat (DW) - Summary of violence in the first fifteen minutes of the first episode of Daredevil
DC Comics
The problem of Supergirl and Wonder Woman:various authors (forum) - "I'm writing an article about Supergirl for my blog and it occurred to me that she is my favorite superheroine.
Which bothered me."
Doctor Who
Nerd Lunch Podcast 173: Doctor Who Drill Down 2: Nerd Lunch (podcast) - "The trio ride the TARDIS for an extra long episode discussing the past ten years of the show. The highs, the lows, the weird and the really weird. We also talk about what the Doctor would be like if the Doctor were us."
Doctor Who's Tin Dog Problem: Lady Saika (blog) - "This forces me to point out a very unsettling pattern in Doctor Who: the Doctor's behavior toward the men of color in his companions' lives is pretty dang racist."
Dragon Age
Dragon Age's post-racial (high) fantasy: Will Partin (blog) - "There, in plain sight, lies one of the great and largely unexamined tropes of high fantasy (and, for that matter, science fiction): race is not a question of the color of one's skin, but a product of one's species."
Ex Machina
Review: Ex Machina is a Really, Really Weird and Wild Look at Machines: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Ava takes elements from both those films, along with Her, Under the Skin, and Terminator, but the movie never feels derivative, and relishes the opportunity to talk about the implications and science behind what we're witnessing."
The Fake is a Lie in Ex Machina: Natalie Zutter (blog) - "The rest of this taut cautionary tale has the characters and the audience constantly sifting through layers of trickery and manipulation—from both humans and machines."
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy: Returning to First Grade With Its "Girls Have Cooties" Mentality: Tsunderin (blog) - "What I'm actually furious about is the recent comment that Hajime Tabata, director of Final Fantasy XV, made concerning the game. For those unaware, Final Fantasy XV follows an all-male team through a time of war and forces them to experience the horrors that come along with that."
The Flash
CW's The Flash is a Great Superhero Adaptation But Iris West is Getting Left in the Dust: Alan Kistler (blog) - "But now we're getting to what does trouble me. Who is Iris outside of the men in her life?"
The Flash Cast and Creative Team Talk Diversity and the Importance of Representation: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "In a recent interview with Blastr, The Flash showrunner Andrew Kreisberg and stars Carlos Valdes and Danielle Panabaker spoke about diversity in the comic book world and in Central City."
Forever
Forever, Season 1, Episode 20: Best Foot Forward: Sparky (blog) - "The actual plot line of this episode didn't enthrall me over much. It wasn't bad, it wasn't amazing (and I do question the motive – I mean, how long WILL people talk about the woman who ALMOST made it? And actually finding Eva before she died required a lot of Henry-ish deduction which seems silly since sh needed to be found) –but behind it there's a lot of good."
The Fosters
The Fosters Season 2 and Selective Mutism: sasha_feather (DW) - "In episodes 4, 5 and 6, Jude stops speaking, and Lena tells the family that his counselor thinks that it might be selective mutism. She and Stef say supportive things that sound like they are right out of a treatment handbook."
Game of Thrones
For a Change: The Wars to Come: Johnny (blog) - "What follows is my attempt to clarify what the source material did and how the show has differentiated itself."
The Wars to Come Open Thread: Johnny (blog) - "This open thread is for all viewers, including book readers who may want to compare the show to the book."
Deconstructed: The Wars to Come: Stefan (blog) - "That being said, let's delve at it in the already accustomed way of going through the several plot locations of each episode instead of simply recapping them."
Return to Westeros: "The Wars to Come" Review: mikelywhiplash (blog) - "As you might have noticed, I like talking about Game of Thrones. And, with its premiere last night, titled, "The Wars to Come", I've finally got something new to talk about."
Can Marxist theory predict the end of Game of Thrones?: Paul Mason (journal) - "The Lannisters' gold has run out. The bankers are impatient. The sex-and-power feudal system of Westeros is in its dying throes. Surely revolution is inevitable?"
Game of Thrones and the End of Marxist Theory: Sam Kriss (journal) - "Forget the capitalists: a People's Republic of Westeros is possible, and imminent — but it may well be stranger and more fantastic than many of us would like to admit."
Review: The Wars to Come: ghostlovesinger (blog) - "And while there has never been a season premiere of this show that's been anything less than great, this is the first one that was great while also being understated."
Games of Thrones, Season 5, Episode 1: The Wars to Come: Sparky (blog) - "That probably sums up sexuality on this show: women's naked bodies used as wall paper, explicit straight sexuality shoe-horned in, often violently, everywhere, just about every man visiting prostitutes and same-sex love kept carefully shadowy."
NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: Control Your Dragon: Connie (blog) - "After watching the episode, I kept thinking about Daenerys' dragons and her lack of control over them. She is now afraid of her own "babies." Many of the other characters similarly have their own dragons: sources of personal power that they have lost control of."
Gemstone IV
Throwback Thursdays: Gemstone IV: mikelywhiplash (blog) - "It's still before your time. Because Gemstone IV first showed up in 1987. We're talking about a MUD."
Glee
Glee meta on Burt Hummell:damnpene (tumblr) - "I find it complicated when people crown (Burt) the greatest father ever. "
Glee Ending meta luvtheheaven: (tumblr) - "I do think it was important that Rachel end up happy and in love"
One thing the Glee finale did right: tellherwhereyouare (tumblr) - "She fucking worked for it, and she earned it.
"
Glee is the Albus Dumbledore of television shows:tellherwhereyouare (tumblr) - "An undeniable force for good in the long run, but rather problematic when you get down to the nitty-gritty"
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened:jillianleedy (tumblr) - "It wasn't always perfect."
The pros and cons of the Glee finale: infinitelyalways (tumblr) - "I'd like to preface this with the fact that I'm very pleased with the finale."
Grimm
Grimm, Season Four, Episode Fifteen: Double Date: Renee (blog) - "But this is still as close as Grimm has ever got to such a character (or any LGBTQ character) and it's full of some highly dubious tropes"
Harry Potter
The Science of Pureblood Prejudice: wellingtongoose (LJ) - "Whilst we can write this off as pure pig-headed dedication to ideology. I believe that there is a much deeper, rational reason behind pureblood prejuidice."
The Harry Potter Reread: Rewatching The Goblet of Fire Film: Emily Asher-Perrin (blog) - "But what's odd to me on rewatching this time around is that the Goblet of Fire film was clearly trying to recreate Cuarón's magic from PoA, and as a result has many of the same flaws; it has some beautiful added/altered moments and snappy dialogue, but the plot is a chopped up mess of a thing."
Who tops more, Draco or Harry? and Who tops more, Draco or Harry? - HD-fan-fair analysis: snowgall (LJ) - "Yesterday I was having a discussion with vaysh about who tops more in fanfic, Draco or Harry. I was of the opinion that it seemed fairly balanced, but that was from my perspective of mostly reading recent fic. Vaysh has been reading Drarry fanfiction for much longer than me, however, and she disagreed"
Helix
Helix, Season 2, Episode 13: O Brave New World: Sparky (blog) - "AAAAAAAAAAAARGH. I hate this. I hate it because it makes no sense."
Home
'Home' Will Make You Want to Punch A Cute L'il Alien in His Stupid Purple Face: Rebecca Pahle (blog) - "The rest of the movie isn't bad. It isn't good, either, but it's not bad. It's really childish—LOL, Oh accidentally drinks pee!—which makes sense, given it's a kid's movie. It's just not a ParaNorman or a The LEGO Movie or a Toy Story 3, where there's just as much for adults to appreciate."
An Endorsement of Home: It's Daughter Approved: Shawn Taylor (blog) - "I'm not sure who DreamWorks got to run the media campaign for this film, but it felt like they made it their sacred duty to hide the fact that the co-lead was a girl of color, and that this is the most multi-cultural/multi-ethnic animated film I have ever seen — possibly ever made."
Hugo Awards
[UPDATED]George R.R. Martin and Others Speak Out Over Hugo Awards Controversy: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "This afternoon George R.R. Martin took to his Livejournal to address a growing controversy that, although seemingly niche even relative to the already niche world of geekdom, is indicative of a problem in Internet culture overall."
George R.R. Martin Continues to Address 'Puppy-gate' Controversy, Says the Hugo Awards May Be Broken: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "In his second post last night, Martin addressed the personal meaning that the Hugos and Worldcon hold for him, and explained the Awards' historically narrow margins of victory and how the small voting pool (at least relative to comparable awards/cons) allowed the self-proclaimed "Sad Puppies" to saturate this year's slate."
they're Rabid, not Sad: kate_nepveu (DW) - "The "Rabid Puppies" slate, the one put forth by Vox Day (a pseudonym for Theodore Beale), is the dominant slate here."
Human Shields, Cabals and Poster Boys: John Scalzi (blog) - "I'm feeling increasingly sorry for the nominees on the Hugo award ballot who showed up on either Puppy slate but who aren't card-carrying Puppies themselves, since they are having to deal with an immense amount of splashback not of their own making."
Sad Puppies Aren't Much Fun: Marie Brennan (blog) - "I've felt for years now that the Hugos are a thing I should maybe be more involved in."
the reason most folk songs are so atrocious is that they were written by the people: Elizabeth Bear (LJ) - "There are a number of proposals being brainstormed in the various fandom internets (remember: anarchy--lots of people working and talking in tandem) towards amending the Hugo voting procedures to prevent slate voting from completely dominating the award."
Slate Pitch: Jim Henley (blog) - "In the short term, I can't see any way to fight slate tactics except with other slates."
on buying some hugo awards, and voting NO AWARD: (blog) - "A lot of people reading this won't know: there is an award called the Hugo, for science fiction and fantasy literature and fannish activities. There are also awards for movies and film, but the big ones are for the written word. It's shaped like a rocket, with a base that changes every year."
Not the affirmative action you meant, not the history you're making: N.K. Jemisin (blog) - "But this isn't exactly the first venerable SFF institution that Those People have attempted to shit all over, so at this point I'm inured to their "inflammatory" tactics."
Things I don't understand about puppies (the sad kind).: la_marquise_de_ (LJ) - "So I just learnt that both Mr Correia and Mr Torgersen debuted in 2009. I debuted (as a novelist) that year, too. From the sense of ownership and entitlement they express over sff, I had assumed they were old hands, who'd been working and writing for at least a decade, probably more."
we'd better all be ready to go to the business meeting: (blog) - "The Sad/Rabid Puppies have already moved to threats. That's good. It gets everything right out into the open, so we all know the grounds we're operating on here."
The Biggest Little SF Publisher you never heard of pull son the jackboots: Charlie Stross (blog) - "But, interestingly, a new Hugo-related record has been set: for a Finnish publisher few people have ever heard of is responsible for no fewer than nine nominated works."
Talk with me about being a fan of science fiction and fantasy: Mary Robinette Kowal (blog) - "Watching the debate about the Hugo awards, I've noticed that both sides are saying that the wrong fans are making decisions."
Next Puppy Please 4/11: Mike Glyer (blog) - "Sad Puppies suddenly remembered today they love Tor Books after all, for no particular rea$on. Mary Robinette Kowal offered to underwrite 10 Worldcon member$hips to grow fandom beyond the enclave. Gawker hates that George R.R. Martin is lo$ing money blogging about Sad Puppies instead of finishing his book. George himself returns to the lists in a post condemning hate speech. That and many other opinions are canvassed in today's roundup."
The 2015 Hugo Awards: Why I Am Voting No Award in the Best Fan Writer Category: Abigail Nussbaum (blog) - "As difficult as this is to say, my plan at the moment is to rank Mixon below No Award, and I'd like to talk for a bit about my reasons for doing that."
Some thoughts on the Hugos: carbonel (LJ) - "My theory is that the problem with the Hugos is that the field is just too damned large."
SAD PUPPIES 3: The unraveling of an unreliable field: Brad R. Torgersen (blog) - "I want to introduce another theory. One that others have spoken of before. I call it the "Unreliable packaging" theory."
The Incredible Hulk
Mega Marvel Rewatch: The Incredible Hulk: owlmoose (DW) - "My impression remains that, although the film is officially part of MCU canon, it stands a bit apart from the rest."
Iron Man
Mega Marvel Rewatch: Iron Man: owlmoose (DW) - "So, Iron Man! Where it all started. It's easy to forget, so many years and films later, that without the commercial and critical success of this movie, we wouldn't even have a Marvel Cinematic Universe."
Mega Marvel Rewatche: Iron Man 2: owlmoose (DW) - "One of my main issues with this film has always been its overabundance of plot."
iZombie
IZombie, Season 1, Episode 4: Liv and Let Liv: Sparky (blog) - "In past episodes this show has been surprisingly subtle and willing to comment when it came to gender and race and this whole thing felt… jarring, so much so I do actually wonder if it was a poorly executed attempt at commentary rather than just a terrible attempt at humour."
James Bond
Bond Girl: Re-Watching and Re-Evaluating From Russia With Love: Zina Hutton (blog) - "I'm going to be honest: From Russia With Love alternately bored and annoyed me. The high points of the film were the political parts and the fight scenes, but there was so much more that I either felt uncomfortable with or that straight up made me angry."
Jane Austen/Georgette Heyer
Hapax and Heyer, Austen and Irony, or, What I should have said: Sherwood Smith (blog) - "In the last year or so, I've been asked by people both in person at con panels and at my Jane Austen book club discussion group, as well as on line, what I see as the difference between Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer."
Labyrinth/Legend
Magical Mondays: Legend, Labyrinth, and the Fae: Tsunderin (blog) - "Yet here we are again, and I find myself with the time to discuss Legend's atrocious portrayal of the fae in comparison to Labyrinth's—the latter of which seems to keep closer to the actual lore surrounding the fae instead of discounting it entirely."
LadyStar
How To Fight Like A Girl: Why LadyStar Has The Greatest Fighting Team of Teenage Girls Ever Assembled: Theodore Jefferson (blog) - "W. Scott's challenge was to create a world where a sixteen year-old girl could face hand-to-hand combat and convince readers she had an authentic chance to win."
How To Fight Like A Girl, Part 2: LadyStar, Teamwork, and Empowering Female Characters: Theodore Jefferson (blog) - "In my scholarship of these stories and their characters, I postulate that were it not for the cultural events of the late 1990s, the advent of heroic girls in the 21st century would have been either subdued or absent altogether."
Last Man on Earth
Last Man On Earth, Season One, Episode Eight: The Do-Over: Renee (blog) - "We are now on episode nine and it has become evident that probably even before the virus wiped everyone out, Phil was a horrible human being."
Last Man On Earth Season One, Episode Nine: Pranks for Nothing: Renee (blog) - "Okay, this was supposed to be Phil's growth episode."
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: Flights of Fancy: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "This chapter could be wholly devoted to Skyward Sword since the name itself implies a departure from land, but instead we'll examine literal, figurative, and ironic instances of flight that occur throughout the Zelda series."
Gossip Stone: What would a more "mature" Zelda game be like?: Thomas Jacobs (blog) - "There exists a group of fans who call for more games like that, taking the series to explore darker and more "mature" themes. But what are these themes and how should the series look at them?"
Leverage
Untitled: gyzym (Tumblr) - "what is or your favorite thing about the leverage ot3? also, do u have a favorite ot3 moment(s)???"
Lost River
Review: Ryan Gosling's Anti-Misogyny Directorial Debut Lost River Deserves A Look: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Because this movie does have an audience out there – it's an "adult fairy tale," set in the modern era with all the sexuality and violence of the pre-Disney variety."
Mad Men
Work Won't Save You: The New Season of 'Mad Men' Changes Everything: Judy Berman (blog) - "These metaphors aren't shocking, or even necessarily new; what's surprising is that they say more about Don's relationship to work than his relationships with his wives, girlfriends, and one-night stands."
Marvel Cinematic Universe
MCU speculation invited: princessofgeeks (DW) - "Today I've been reading speculation about what will be going on in Avengers: Age of Ultron and in Captain America 3: Civil War."
Invisible Women: Why Marvel's Gamora & Black Widow Were Missing From Merchandise, And What We Can Do About It: Annie N. Mouse (blog) - "Disney does not care about Marvel's female market, which makes us virtually invisible."
How 'Captain America 3' got turned on its head: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "Behind the scenes, it's a fascinating example of how the creative process for this kind of franchise really works."
Marvel Comics
From Kitty to Kamala: The Heroes Who Made Ms. Marvel: Steve Morris (blog) - "What's fascinating about the character, though, is how clearly she's embedded into the tradition of superhero comics, and how you can draw a direct line from her back through Marvel's history, to some of the company's most popular female superheroes. Kamala broke through at just the right moment in time, in just the right way, for the readership to embrace her, but she owes a debt to several characters that came before her."
Female Heroes Lead Marvel BOGO Titles On Comixology: Janelle Asselin (blog) - "In March, ComiXology had a buy one, get one free sale on Marvel titles, where you could literally buy any of the Marvel issues in their store. This morning they announced that, during that sale, seven out of the top ten comics sold were books with female heroes."
Mulan
Fans are worried that Disney will whitewash 'Mulan': Aja Romano (blog) - "Since the announcement last month that Disney is making a live-action adaptation of its animated film Mulan, fans of the story have been keen to make sure the title character retains her heritage."
Olympus
Olympus, Season 1, Episode 2: Daedelus: Sparky (blog) - "For all the things this show does well, its violence feels real (well, except the bizarre rope tricks)."
One Direction
Untitled: justawordshaker (Tumblr) - "dude, now i definitely need to hear your thoughts on louis being quiet at bootcamp"
One Piece
Arlong Park Arc: Part VIII: we_are (DW) - "As we conclude the Arlong Park Arc, we explore Arlong's complicated Nami feels, see Luffy having just about enough of this bullshit, save the day, have a party and set sail to a new adventure!"
The Loguetown Adventure: Part I: we_are (DW) - "In this Adventure we look at how the Straw Hats are starting to bond and play, we look at the power of nerdry, the ripples that have begun to travel through the world, but mostly? Marines. Marine ideology. Marine practicality and examine Tashigi and Smoker."
One Piece and Its Dead Mother Cemetary: Vernieda Vergara (blog) - "The dead mother isn't a new trope nor is it unique to manga. From Lily Potter to Kya from Avatar: The Last Airbender, dead mothers populate the angsty backstory of many protagonists embarking on their hero's journey. We can find dead mothers everywhere in fictional narratives. What sets One Piece apart is the number of dead mothers."
Outlander
The "Feminism" of Outlander: Sparky (blog) - "Like other speculative fiction conversions of material from books to television, such as The Walking Deadand Game of Thrones, Outlander has ignited large swathes of conversation, particularly in concern to its feminist credentials."
Outlander Episode 9: The Reckoning: Redheadedgirl (blog) - "I said back in the fall that I was really looking forward to the discussion the beating would generate, and I still stand by that."
Pillars of Eternity
Game Talk: Pillars of Eternity: Lynn E. O'Connacht (blog) - "Let's start with the inevitable: This is a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate games, created at least partially by the same team. Yet this is not Baldur's Gate."
The Returned
The Returned, season 1, Episode 5: Tony & Adam: Sparky (blog) - "We're getting much more deviation from the French version this episode, especially with Victor's storyline moving so much faster."
Revolutionary Girl Utena/Kill La Kill
Revolutionary Girl Showdown: Utena vs. Kill La Kill: Jo Fu (blog) - "I'm not going to smugly point out similarities between Revolutionary Girl Utena and Kill La Kill. Instead, I'm going to smugly assert, right out the gate, that they're the same show. Both shows portray the same exaggerated coming-of-age story of a woman fighting against the established infrastructure of her society. The question is this: how has the revolutionary girl narrative changed over time? And why?"
Salem
Salem, Season 2, Episode 1: Cry Havoc: Sparky (blog) - "Last season I made the point that all the witches of Salem had been abused or mistreated or were otherwise powerless – so I do quite like Mary's line "we're all angry at someone" because they all are."
Sherlock
"The Work vs The Game: Perceptions of Labor and Leisure in Sherlock": notagarroter (blog) - "I've been puzzling lately over the mixed messages in Sherlock with regards to work and play. Why is it that sometimes Sherlock refers to his detecting and deductions as "the work" and other times it's described as a game?"
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes and Politics: Alistair Duncan (blog) - "Given that, here in the UK, we've now entered the General Election season, is it perhaps time to wonder what Sherlock Holmes's political affiliation would have been?"
The Snow Queen
Femslash Friday: Gerda/The Robber Girl: Love and Knives Under the Northern Lights: Victoria Don (blog) - "Allow me to bring your attention to his work "The Snow Queen: A Tale in Seven Stories" — or, as I like to think of it, "A Tale in Six Stories and One Massive, Dripping Slice of Unintentional and Delightful Lesbian Subtext So Blatant that it is Honestly Barely Even Subtext.""
A Song of Ice and Fire
Top Characters #19 Tywin Lannister: Johnny (blog) - "No one would deny that Tywin Lannister did many evil things in his life for which he will be long remembered. Historians, on the other hand, may have to dig really deep to unearth any good."
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Sansa III, ACOK: Steven Attewell (blog) - "If in the past I have alluded to Sansa's plotline in ACOK of abuse and survival, here is where that theme really forces itself to the forefront."
Top Characters #18 Theon Greyjoy: Daeron Martell (blog) - "In a series that focuses so much of its thematic content on the idea of personal identity, no character encapsulates this notion of belonging more cruelly or heartbreakingly than Theon Greyjoy."
Star Trek
Untitled: David Gerrold (blog) - "William Lehman has written a screed about how he who controls the mythology of a nation controls the identity of the nation. I'll agree with that original assertion. But then he uses that as a springboard for a somewhat ill-considered extrapolation that people afflicted with fuzzy-wuzzy thinking have spoiled his precious nuts-and-bolts science fiction."
Star Wars
William Shakespeare's The Phantom Menace as Reviewed by Kay: Kay (blog) - "Before I even started reading this latest edition, I felt like the novelty of crossing the two streams had finally worn off. But by the time I was twenty pages into the book, I found myself giddy all over again at recognizing references to some of my favorite Shakespeare plays and lines."
The Radicalization of Jar Jar Binks: K.M. MCFARLAND (blog) - "So when it came time for Ian Doescher, author of William Shakespeare's Star Wars and its corresponding sequels The Empire Striketh Back and The Jedi Doth Return, to tackle the prequel trilogy in Shakespearean verse, there was a Gungan-sized stumbling block."
Untitled: deadcatwithaflamethrower (Tumblr) - "I've seen a couple of posts around about Obi Wan possibly being 20 years old in the Phantom menace instead of per Disney canon's age of 25 and I was wondering if you knew more about this info and its source?"
Untitled: anghraine (Tumblr) - "Essentially benevolent people/organizations sow the seeds of their destruction or corruption (different things, thank you Obi-Wan) by allowing themselves to become complicit in wrongdoing."
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Untitled: norcumi (Tumblr) - "You said you could name TCW eps with Rex/Obi-Wan stuff? I'd love a list to go watch. I usually read Obi as (aro)/ace, but Rex/Obi is growing on me, and I'd like to see where you're coming from (NGL, I focused more on the relationships involving Anakin when I watched the series)."
Star Wars Rebels
Hyperspace Theories Episode Eight: Star Wars Rebels: Hyperspace Theories (podcast) - "We consider the entire first season of Rebels to evaluate the choices made by the storytellers in building the small slice of the galaxy where the series begins its tale."
Steven Universe
Sexualized Saturday: Steven Universe and Soft Masculinity: brothadom (blog) - "But, I think masculinity can, and should, manifest in other ways: emotional strength, love, and bravery. These attributes could be considered "soft masculinity" as a counter to more aggressive, "hard masculinity"."
Supernatural
Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 17: Inside Man: Sparky (blog) - "He's an atheist who believes in the proven supernatural (he is, after all, a mind reader) that doesn't deny the existence of angels – or of powerful beings that call themselves angels. This actually applies, to some degree, to the show as well – after all, we know angels are the agents of god because… they say they are."
Supernatural - love is all you need LOL: cupidsbower (Tumblr) - "What a good episode. The plot has thickened so much it's practically custard, and there are romance tropes all over the place."
Identity Crisis 101 by Rowena: memberoftheangelgarrison (Tumblr) - "During the last episode I realised yet another topic I didn't recover until just now, the significance of roles. Now, some of you may say 'yeah yeah, but dude, that's nothing new' but let me tell you; there's a huge difference between the roles you put yourself into, the roles you get forced into, and who you truly are."
Thor
Victor/VicThoria: Feminism, Personhood & Hammering Out the Trouble with Thor: Nyala Ali (blog) - "The fundamental problem with the current run of Thor is that it doesn't seem to be very invested in Thor herself."
Tolkien
Talks on Tolkien: Dawn Walls-Thumma on transformative works: Dawn Walls-Thumma (video) - "In her presentation, Dawn talks about the rise of Tolkien fandom and the development of different fan communities with the advent of Internet fandom."
Thoughts on Gandalf: determanfidd (tumblr) - "I admire him in some ways. I love his love of Hobbits. I love that he makes fireworks for children, and smokes pipeweed in wizardly ways."
Exceptional mothers of Middle Earth: askmiddleearth (tumblr) - "It's true that there is an above-average trend of maternal abandonment in Tolkien's stories (you can read more about that here), and aside from those cases there are plenty of mothers who, through no fault of their own, did not live to see their children grow up. And there are plenty of mothers whose relationships with their children are simply never described. But there are also, dear Anon, several excellent maternal role models in Middle Earth. Just a few of my favorites"
Maedhros and Maglor the saving angels of the Earandilion?: starvaultoftheheavens (tumblr) - "The idea in this fandom that Maedhros and Maglor were gracious little angels for "rescuing" Elrond and Elros makes me so furious"
Twin Peaks
The Twin Peaks Log: S.2 E.7: Romona Williams (blog) - "Welcome to our biweekly roundtable of Twin Peaks where we are working our way through every. Single. Episode."
Vorkosigan
I Was Right (Ask Me How): dsudis (tumblr) - "Because it turns out I was right about basically all of the tinhat inferences I was drawing, and as we all know nothing is more fun than being right in public."
The Walking Dead
Love Story of the Zombie Apocalypse: Real-Life Horroe in Walking Dead: Shannon Gibney (blog) - "Yes, folks, there is a thing more dangerous than a feral, brain-munching horde of zombies: A straight white man who swears that he will do everything in his power to save and protect you and your children."
Where The Boys Are (1960)
Re-View: Spring Break Begins With Where The Boys Are (1960): Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Where the Boys Are is a classic, lush MGM movie from Producer Joe Pasternak (a fascinating Hollywood figure), but it's also a sex comedy about college co-eds heading to Fort Lauderdale for spring break, focusing on the sexual concerns and drives of women."
The Wind Rises
The Wind Rises… and falls: foxinthestars (DW) - "Somehow I was braced for The Wind Rises to be worse than it was, and I will say it was interesting, but I won't say it was great."
Wrestling
multiple people (Tumblr) - "The "Fake Relationship" trope is real life in professional wrestling, actually. Wrestling has a long tradition of "kayfabe," which basically means "pretending that this is an actual sport and not an exceptionally fighty soap opera.""
X-Men/Marvel Cinematic Universe
Oh, My Pop Culture Judaism: Jewish Erasure & Discrimination in the X-Men & Marvel Movie Adaptations: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "And sadly we can see this attitude reflected in our own geek culture. Today I am going to specifically talk about the anti-Semitism in the X-Men/Marvel Movie Universe."
Yurikuma Arashi
A Bearhug To The Heart I Didn't Expect: A Yurikuma Arashi Review: MarchHareMoe (blog) - "Yurikuma Arashi shows how queer relationships can be complex and difficult, and touches on different forms of love, even familial."
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General Fandom
An exercise in futility: Charlie Stross (blog) - "A piece of ebook-reader software called Clean Reader has been generating headlines and causing indignation among authors recently"
topic:censorship
Jewish Fanfiction Creates an Alternate Literary Universe: Marjorie Ingall (blog) - "So, is it any wonder that there's a whole world of Jewish fanfic out there?"
topic:fanfic, topic:religion, topic:representation
We Need To Talk About Dragons - John Mullan, George RR Martin, Game of Thrones and the triumph of fantasy fiction: Maureen K. Speller (blog) - "It was something of a surprise to find John Mullan discussing fantasy fiction in the Guardian just a week ago. A surprise because, on past accounting, Mullan and genre fiction do not make natural bedfellows."
topic:criticism, topic:fantasy, fandom:literature
Fanfic at The New Yorker: Teresa (blog) - "I feel like I should mark it on my calendar: four days ago, The New Yorker published The True History of Jewish Wizards at Hogwarts by Nathaniel Stein."
topic:fanfic
Our toxic remake culture: Why do we insist on making the same old white-guy movies over and over?: Arthur Chu (blog) - "Like it or not — despite the many, many hectoring jeremiads by the people who fall on the "not" side of the argument — "remake culture" seems to be here to stay. The most anticipated films of the upcoming year are all adaptations of or sequels to works that are decades old."
topic:representation, topic:adaptations, topic:movies
Modern Feedback: charlotte_frost (LJ) - "Once I started posting stories to Archive of Our Own, on an as-I-feel-lik-it basis, it's taken me a while to adjust to the "kudos" thing."
topic:feedback
You Belong To Me: Laura Miller (blog) - "Once exiled to obscure corners of the internet, fanfiction — amateur fiction based on characters from preexisting works or real-life celebrities — has lately become a force driving popular culture."
topic:fanfic
Fan Fiction's Power Play: Word of Mouth (radio program) - "Once relegated to fanzines and the occasional bookstore, "fan fiction" is quickly becoming more accessible, more mainstream, and in some cases, more of a headache for authors who inspired the fans in the first place. On today's show, why some authors are bucking against the trend."
topic:fanfic
The civil war to save classic video games: Dennis Scimeca (blog) - "On Wednesday the Electronic Frontier Foundation published a report maintaining that the video game industry—as represented by the Entertainment Software Association—was against preserving legacy games due to hacking concerns."
fandom:gaming, topic:copyright
PERSPECTIVES III: "What is Science Fiction? Or, Hell, What is Genre?": The G, Vance K, and English Scribbler (blog) - "All three discussants in this month's Blogtable offered compelling visions of what, if anything, makes science fiction science fictional."
topic:sciencefiction
Censure vs. Censor: A Blog Carnival: Various (blog) - "Megan Purdy hosted a Blog Carnival on Censure vs. Censor over at Women Write About Comics."
fandom:comics, topic:censorship
Web Crush Wednesdays: OC Survey: Tsunderin (blog) - "OC Survey is just what it sounds like: a survey about OCs. Pretty simple, right? Earlier this year the call went out to anyone interested to take part of a multifaceted study digging into the physical and psychological aspects of their OCs."
topic:fanfic, topic:originalcharacter
12-Year Old Girl Takes the Gaming Industry to Task Over Paying for Female Characters: Dan Van Winkle (blog) - "Free-to-play games have their share of problems that apply to everyone—they make downloading and playing the game on a basic level free, but extra features, characters, and other bonuses generally require the player to pay up. That can be frustrating, but it gets even worse when you look at which of these games charge players to use a female character, and 12-year-old Madeline Messer did just that."
fandom:gaming, topic:femalecharacter
Women in Games Segment Addresses the Gaming Industry's Gender Problem on Australia's Good Game: Dan Van Winkle (blog with video link) - "Most importantly, they make the point that improving diversity in games doesn't hurt anyone."
fandom:gaming, topic:diversity
Meet the Youtube Anime Community: Uve (blog) - "It's the gathering of different youtubers who review manga and anime regularly after every chapter/episode is released."
topic:reviewing, fandom:anime, fandom:manga
Gaugng Interest: moduno (LJ) - "I'm looking into possibly re-opening the community for activity.">
topic:shipping, topic:livejournal
Tumblr Fandom Doesn't Owe You Sales: The Fans Who Are Ruining Everything (This Week): Megan Purdy (blog) - "There is not, however, a Tumblr-specific problem of fake fans who can't be converted from casual appreciators into enthusiastic consumers. Artists are owed credit for their work and payment where it is requested or required, but they are not owed customers or engagement in their preferred mode. Let's unpack."
topic:fandom, topic:tumblr
Tough but Funny: Tone and the Art of Resilience: quinn (blog) - "It occurs to me that the tone of a piece of media is often determined by the resiliency of its protagonists."
topic:writing, topic:humor, topic:drama
A Tale of Two Characters: N.K. Jemisin (blog) - "So here's a (hopefully) interesting exercise. I'm going to compare reviewer comments on two of my protagonists: Oree Shoth from The Broken Kingdoms, and Gatherer Ehiru from The Killing Moon."
topic:sexism, topic:criticism, fandom:literature
Trying to think of narratives that do something similar to SU's gem fusion: snarp (DW) - Examples of other canons that fuse or split characters the way that Steven Universe does
topic:tropes
Fantasy's Othering Fetish, Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3: Phenderson Djeli Clark (blog) - "Over the years demands for more meaningful diversity in our fantasy realms have grown increasingly louder–a clarion call that echoes from the mundane world to haunt our usual lands of elves, dragons, orcs and whatnot."
topic:fantasy, topic:diversity, topic:racism
Context as Crisis: The Street is a Book: Daniel Jose Older (blog) - "It's become a lit-crit cliché to say a book's setting is like a character. But it's conflict, as Robert McKee writes, that is the music of story; how can setting function as conflict, as crisis?"
topic:writing, topic:setting
Fighting Words: Thoughts on Prose Style Prompted by John Wick: Max Gladstone - "After the credits rolled, I stood and paced the house thinking, how on earth could I accomplish that same effect in prose? How could I write scenes that felt like those?"
topic:writing
Untitled: harpijka (Tumblr) - "Large fandoms—things like Doctor Who, or Supernatural, or Star Trek, or any superhero comic—tend to have unique and separate sides to them: curative and transformative."
topic:fandom
The Myths of Disability in Life and Fiction: Holly Kench (blog) - "When we accept these myths, it's as though we are accepting 'rules' for how people experience disability."
topic:disability, topic:fiction
On the Reposting of Fanfiction: author_by_night (DW) - "The thing is, this isn't the only infringement - and it is infringement - I have seen."
topic:fanfic
EbookTree and Fanwork Content: AO3 News (blog) - "Upon further investigation, it became clear that Ebooks Tree is not hosting MOBI files of AO3 works, but linking directly to the versions hosted on the AO3 servers, and we do not currently believe they are hosting PDF files, either."
topic:ao3, topic:scam
Dystopical films: Why is the future on film always so grim?: Joe Queenan (other) - "We are now living in a golden age of dystopian films; that is, incredibly depressing films set at some point in the future – often, the relatively near future – where life is a complete mess and no one is happy, not even the fascist scum who run things"
topic:dystopia, topic:movies
What Are The Comic Book Ages? What Are The Defining Moments: various authors (forum) - "There is a generally held belief that (mostly) American superhero comic book history can be divided into various ages, and usually it goes:
Golden Age
Silver Age
Bronze Age"
fandom:comics
Specific Fandom
12 Monkeys
12 Monkeys, Season One, Episode Thirteen: Arms of Mine: Renee (blog) - "That was the season finale of 12 Monkeys. One of the things which irritated me about this show is that it asks a lot of questions without providing a single answer."
fandom:12monkeys, warning:spoilers
The 100
I went to Amsterdam for a week & all I came back with is this new fandom: marina (DW) - "But on the other hand The 100 has... women. Women, women, women."
fandom:the100
The 100 and the exodus from Egypt (spoilers through Season 2) coffeeandink (DW) - " So anyway: I've been thinking for a while about how The 100 is shaped by Passover, and particularly by how much of the series is variations on the exodus from Egypt. I don't mean that the show is an allegory, or that it's a literal retelling of the Book of Exodus IN SPACE, but that the narrative uses and comments on the tropes of Exodus."
fandom:the100
if you find yourself lost, dig: musesfool (DW) - "Not only does it have a number of amazing and varied female characters main, recurring, and tertiary (♥INDRA♥), it avoids the 'typical' CW love triangle nonsense, and, most importantly, it follows through on things.
fandom:the100
Agent Carter
Mega Marvel Rewatch: Agent Carter, concluded: owlmoose (DW) - Thoughts on rewatching the last three episodes of Agent Carter
fandom:agentcarter
Agents of SHIELD
What's the Deal with the POC Characters on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?: A.L. Baroza (blog) - "While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., at first glance, is diverse in its casting (at least of its secondary recurring cast members and guest stars; its regulars are largely white), the series reveals an unsettling pattern of how these characters of color are depicted."
fandom:agentsofshield, topic:race
The Americans
Crime and Punishment: 'The Americans' Soars in Its Brutal Third Season: Andy Greenwald (blog) - "To say that The Americans has become punishingly grim in its brilliant third season isn't exactly right."
fandom:theamericans
The Americans is on one of the best runs of episodes in TV drama history: Todd VanDerWerff (blog) - "Right now, FX's spy drama The Americans is in the kind of incredible stretch of episodes TV dramas sometimes hit in the middle of their runs. With the characters firmly established and the stakes of the plot in place, a series can carefully start blowing up assumptions and turning the screws tighter and tighter to see how the characters get out of steadily worsening situations."
fandom:theamericans
Why Paige from 'The Americans' is TV's most progressive Christian: Jeff Jensen (blog) - "Will this be the week that Paige Jennings gives up on her faith on The Americans? I keep waiting for it to happen."
fandom:theamericans, topic:religion
Shocking sex, vicious violence and exquisite betrayal: "The Americans" keeps testing our limits, week after week: Anna Silman (blog) - "This is a show that has always tested viewers emotionally, and this long-awaited moment was exactly the gut-punch we were anticipating"
fandom:theamericans
Angel
Untitled: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "This is why I say he's done most of his bad deeds with a soul. Not because he can't use it as an excuse. But because he does use it as an excuse, only to find the good in the bad deed. He finds the good angle and runs with it."
fandom:angel
Arrested Development
It's time to give 'Arrested Development the proper burial it deserves: Feliks Garcia (blog) - "But lately, the Internet's gone a little off the rails with its televisual necromancing, not only communicating with the dead through their streaming states, but also playing God and reanimating some corpses without considering whether or not that's what their spirit even wants."
fandom:arresteddevelopment, topic:revival
Arrow
The Psychology of Inspirational Women: Black Canary (Laurel Lance): Dr. Janina Scarlet (blog) - Analysis of Laurel Lance from a psychologist's point of view
fandom:arrow, topic:femalecharacter
White Canary and Arrow's Habit of Whitewashing: Keith Chow (blog) - "Being a big fan of Caity's, I'm stoked she's coming back to the universe. The only problem is, despite the character's name, White Canary ain't, uh, white."
fandom:arrow, topic:race, topic:whitewashing
Batgirl
The Last Batgirl Story: Sarah Register (blog) - -"The Killing Joke is touted as the "Definitive Joker Story," and while it is certainly one of his darkest and most memorable chapters, it's Barbara Gordon that is ultimately defined by the story."
fandom:dccomics, topic:femalcharacter, topic:history
Batman TV (1966)
60s Batman: A Giant Sprawling Post About It: thingswithwings (DW) - " Below are the many many many thoughts I had while making this vid."
fandom:batmantv1966
Bitten
Bitten Season 2, episode 9: Scavenger's Daughter: Sparky (blog) - " Last week ended on a dramatic moment – the witches were all going to die! So clearly this week must begin with a flashback to one year ago"
fandom:bitten, warning:spoilers
Bitten, Season 2, Episode 10: Fine Temporum: Sparky (blog) - "I've been a bit luke-warm this season. I think it has had a severe pacing and distraction problem."
fandom:bitten, warning:spoilers
Black-ish
'Black-ish' Doesn't Perpetuate Racist Stereotypes; It Expertly Demolishes Them: Pilot Viruet (blog) - "The headline "Shows like 'Black-ish' perpetuate racist stereotypes" is so far-reaching and so desperate for controversy clicks under the pretense of being a conversation starter — it's no surprise it comes on the heels of Deadline's recent article about "ethnics" on television — that it almost reads as master satire."
fandom:black-ish
Buffy
Untitled: apprenticebard, oncemorewithwalkers, anightofslayage (Tumblr) - "I just would like to say that it is such bull crap the way the scoobies treat Buffy when she comes back in season 3."
fandom:btvs
A disturbing parallel: The Bronze Balcony: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "There's many parallels between Giles and Spike."
fandom:btvs
What Your Soulless Vampire Counterpart Says About You: Liam/Angel/Angelus: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "I have to start this post by saying that I'm very much a fan of the idea that Angel and Angelus are essentially the same being, though I don't think that means that Angel is 'really' a horrible person who secretly wants to murder all his friends."
fandom:btvs
Spike implied that vampires can be 'housebroken': areanna123 (Tumblr) - "Of course there is a lot to look at regarding the Angel&Spike relationship in that episode, but what I was wondering about was when Spike realizes that something is off with Angel/us. He doesn't know about the soul thing at this point, all he knows is that Angel/us is not being himself. One of the things he says about it is-"This tortured thing is an act, right? You're not housebroken?""
fandom:btvs
Untitled: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Does anyone else wonder who exactly Dawn was before she became Dawn?"
fandom:btvs
Untitled: demandingbillydolls (Tumblr) - "Weird thought on some BtVS comics opinions I've seen floating around."
fandom:btvs
Headcanon: Everyone thought Buffy was Bi/Lesbian in season 3: areanna123 (Tumblr) - "This post isn't about where Buffy falls on the Kinsey. I'm just saying that from an outsiders perspective, like Buffy's classmates, they may very well have thought that Buffy come out of the closet during her senior year, and I'll tell you why."
fandom:btvs
What your soulless vampire counterpart says about you: Harmony Kendall: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "I think that the relationship between a souled being and their unsouled vampire counterpart is much more complex than we're led to believe."
fandom:btvs
Faith Lehane and internalized misogyny: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "Faith's had an extremely unstable life. She's an orphan and probably grew up with seeing everyone as competition more than most people. She probably had to in order to survive."
fandom:btvs
An irrelevant rant on the merits of Spike in relation to Buffy: thenotcanadian (Tumblr) - "Here's my Spuffy rant, because I should get to have one and I make myself mad by reading people's comments."
fandom:btvs
Captain America
What an African-American Captain America means for Marvel: Alex Abad-Santos (blog) - "In November, Sam Wilson, the African-American hero known as Falcon, was chosen to take on the title of Captain America in his own comic book."
fandom:marvelcomics
Daredevil
Marvel's 'Daredevil' makes an exciting if unoriginal debut on Netflix: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "As a gritty superhero crime drama entering an already crowded field, Daredevil stands out in a couple of ways."
fandom:daredevil
Why Isn't Netflix's New Daredevil Series Available For The Blind?: Charlie Jane Anders (blog) - "Netflix isn't making Daredevil available in audio description, which is a format where a specially added soundtrack features a person describing the action in between pieces of dialogue."
fandom:daredevil, topic:disability
NOC Recaps Daredevil: Marvel's Got DC Throwing Tantrums: Eric S.B. (blog) - "Rather than hash out point by point what happens, let's look at reasons why the first episode of Marvel and Netflix's Daredevil is one of the best first episodes of anything ever filmed; superhero or otherwise."
fandom:daredevil
'Daredevil' Season 1 Review: Rachel A (blog) - "As superhero premises go, this one is strongly in the vein of Batman or Arrow, except our protagonist does not start out as a rich playboy."
fandom:daredevil
'Daredevil': Mysteries, Easter Eggs and Theories: Andrew Wheeler (blog) - "So let's unpack some of the mysteries, Easter eggs, teasers, and in-jokes from Daredevil, and speculate wildly on where all this is going to go in the other Netflix solo series, and perhaps even in Daredevil season two."
fandom:daredevil, fandom:marvelcomics
Daredevil is the Hero we need and deserve: Shawn Taylor (blog) - "I feel the same way about Daredevil's first season as I did about the first season of the rebooted Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) series: "How in the hell can TV be this good?""
fandom:daredevil
Daredevil: ugh: astolat (DW) - Summary of violence in the first fifteen minutes of the first episode of Daredevil
fandom:daredevil, warning:violence
DC Comics
The problem of Supergirl and Wonder Woman:various authors (forum) - "I'm writing an article about Supergirl for my blog and it occurred to me that she is my favorite superheroine.
Which bothered me."
fandom:dccomics
Doctor Who
Nerd Lunch Podcast 173: Doctor Who Drill Down 2: Nerd Lunch (podcast) - "The trio ride the TARDIS for an extra long episode discussing the past ten years of the show. The highs, the lows, the weird and the really weird. We also talk about what the Doctor would be like if the Doctor were us."
fandom:doctorwho
Doctor Who's Tin Dog Problem: Lady Saika (blog) - "This forces me to point out a very unsettling pattern in Doctor Who: the Doctor's behavior toward the men of color in his companions' lives is pretty dang racist."
fandom:doctorwho, topic:racism
Dragon Age
Dragon Age's post-racial (high) fantasy: Will Partin (blog) - "There, in plain sight, lies one of the great and largely unexamined tropes of high fantasy (and, for that matter, science fiction): race is not a question of the color of one's skin, but a product of one's species."
fandom:dragonage, topic:race
Ex Machina
Review: Ex Machina is a Really, Really Weird and Wild Look at Machines: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Ava takes elements from both those films, along with Her, Under the Skin, and Terminator, but the movie never feels derivative, and relishes the opportunity to talk about the implications and science behind what we're witnessing."
fandom:exmachina
The Fake is a Lie in Ex Machina: Natalie Zutter (blog) - "The rest of this taut cautionary tale has the characters and the audience constantly sifting through layers of trickery and manipulation—from both humans and machines."
fandom:exmachina
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy: Returning to First Grade With Its "Girls Have Cooties" Mentality: Tsunderin (blog) - "What I'm actually furious about is the recent comment that Hajime Tabata, director of Final Fantasy XV, made concerning the game. For those unaware, Final Fantasy XV follows an all-male team through a time of war and forces them to experience the horrors that come along with that."
fandom:finalfantasy, topic:sexism
The Flash
CW's The Flash is a Great Superhero Adaptation But Iris West is Getting Left in the Dust: Alan Kistler (blog) - "But now we're getting to what does trouble me. Who is Iris outside of the men in her life?"
fandom:theflash, topic:femalecharacter
The Flash Cast and Creative Team Talk Diversity and the Importance of Representation: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "In a recent interview with Blastr, The Flash showrunner Andrew Kreisberg and stars Carlos Valdes and Danielle Panabaker spoke about diversity in the comic book world and in Central City."
fandom:theflash, topic:diversity
Forever
Forever, Season 1, Episode 20: Best Foot Forward: Sparky (blog) - "The actual plot line of this episode didn't enthrall me over much. It wasn't bad, it wasn't amazing (and I do question the motive – I mean, how long WILL people talk about the woman who ALMOST made it? And actually finding Eva before she died required a lot of Henry-ish deduction which seems silly since sh needed to be found) –but behind it there's a lot of good."
fandom:forever, warning:spoilers
The Fosters
The Fosters Season 2 and Selective Mutism: sasha_feather (DW) - "In episodes 4, 5 and 6, Jude stops speaking, and Lena tells the family that his counselor thinks that it might be selective mutism. She and Stef say supportive things that sound like they are right out of a treatment handbook."
fandom:thefosters, topic:disability
Game of Thrones
For a Change: The Wars to Come: Johnny (blog) - "What follows is my attempt to clarify what the source material did and how the show has differentiated itself."
fandom:gameofthrones, fandom:asoiaf, topic:adaptations
The Wars to Come Open Thread: Johnny (blog) - "This open thread is for all viewers, including book readers who may want to compare the show to the book."
fandom:gameofthrones
Deconstructed: The Wars to Come: Stefan (blog) - "That being said, let's delve at it in the already accustomed way of going through the several plot locations of each episode instead of simply recapping them."
fandom:gameofthrones
Return to Westeros: "The Wars to Come" Review: mikelywhiplash (blog) - "As you might have noticed, I like talking about Game of Thrones. And, with its premiere last night, titled, "The Wars to Come", I've finally got something new to talk about."
fandom:gameofthrones
Can Marxist theory predict the end of Game of Thrones?: Paul Mason (journal) - "The Lannisters' gold has run out. The bankers are impatient. The sex-and-power feudal system of Westeros is in its dying throes. Surely revolution is inevitable?"
fandom:gameofthrones
Game of Thrones and the End of Marxist Theory: Sam Kriss (journal) - "Forget the capitalists: a People's Republic of Westeros is possible, and imminent — but it may well be stranger and more fantastic than many of us would like to admit."
fandom:gameofthrones
Review: The Wars to Come: ghostlovesinger (blog) - "And while there has never been a season premiere of this show that's been anything less than great, this is the first one that was great while also being understated."
fandom:gameofthrones
Games of Thrones, Season 5, Episode 1: The Wars to Come: Sparky (blog) - "That probably sums up sexuality on this show: women's naked bodies used as wall paper, explicit straight sexuality shoe-horned in, often violently, everywhere, just about every man visiting prostitutes and same-sex love kept carefully shadowy."
fandom:gameofthrones
NOC Recaps Game of Thrones: Control Your Dragon: Connie (blog) - "After watching the episode, I kept thinking about Daenerys' dragons and her lack of control over them. She is now afraid of her own "babies." Many of the other characters similarly have their own dragons: sources of personal power that they have lost control of."
fandom:gameofthrones
Gemstone IV
Throwback Thursdays: Gemstone IV: mikelywhiplash (blog) - "It's still before your time. Because Gemstone IV first showed up in 1987. We're talking about a MUD."
fandom:gaming, topic:history
Glee
Glee meta on Burt Hummell:damnpene (tumblr) - "I find it complicated when people crown (Burt) the greatest father ever. "
fandom:glee
Glee Ending meta luvtheheaven: (tumblr) - "I do think it was important that Rachel end up happy and in love"
fandom:glee, topic:relationships
One thing the Glee finale did right: tellherwhereyouare (tumblr) - "She fucking worked for it, and she earned it.
"
fandom:glee
Glee is the Albus Dumbledore of television shows:tellherwhereyouare (tumblr) - "An undeniable force for good in the long run, but rather problematic when you get down to the nitty-gritty"
fandom:glee
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened:jillianleedy (tumblr) - "It wasn't always perfect."
fandom:glee
The pros and cons of the Glee finale: infinitelyalways (tumblr) - "I'd like to preface this with the fact that I'm very pleased with the finale."
fandom:glee
Grimm
Grimm, Season Four, Episode Fifteen: Double Date: Renee (blog) - "But this is still as close as Grimm has ever got to such a character (or any LGBTQ character) and it's full of some highly dubious tropes"
fandom:grimm, warning:spoilers
Harry Potter
The Science of Pureblood Prejudice: wellingtongoose (LJ) - "Whilst we can write this off as pure pig-headed dedication to ideology. I believe that there is a much deeper, rational reason behind pureblood prejuidice."
fandom:harrypotter
The Harry Potter Reread: Rewatching The Goblet of Fire Film: Emily Asher-Perrin (blog) - "But what's odd to me on rewatching this time around is that the Goblet of Fire film was clearly trying to recreate Cuarón's magic from PoA, and as a result has many of the same flaws; it has some beautiful added/altered moments and snappy dialogue, but the plot is a chopped up mess of a thing."
fandom:harrypotter, topic:adaptations
Who tops more, Draco or Harry? and Who tops more, Draco or Harry? - HD-fan-fair analysis: snowgall (LJ) - "Yesterday I was having a discussion with vaysh about who tops more in fanfic, Draco or Harry. I was of the opinion that it seemed fairly balanced, but that was from my perspective of mostly reading recent fic. Vaysh has been reading Drarry fanfiction for much longer than me, however, and she disagreed"
fandom:harrypotter, topic:sex
Helix
Helix, Season 2, Episode 13: O Brave New World: Sparky (blog) - "AAAAAAAAAAAARGH. I hate this. I hate it because it makes no sense."
fandom:helix, warning:spoilers
Home
'Home' Will Make You Want to Punch A Cute L'il Alien in His Stupid Purple Face: Rebecca Pahle (blog) - "The rest of the movie isn't bad. It isn't good, either, but it's not bad. It's really childish—LOL, Oh accidentally drinks pee!—which makes sense, given it's a kid's movie. It's just not a ParaNorman or a The LEGO Movie or a Toy Story 3, where there's just as much for adults to appreciate."
fandom:home
An Endorsement of Home: It's Daughter Approved: Shawn Taylor (blog) - "I'm not sure who DreamWorks got to run the media campaign for this film, but it felt like they made it their sacred duty to hide the fact that the co-lead was a girl of color, and that this is the most multi-cultural/multi-ethnic animated film I have ever seen — possibly ever made."
fandom:home
Hugo Awards
[UPDATED]George R.R. Martin and Others Speak Out Over Hugo Awards Controversy: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "This afternoon George R.R. Martin took to his Livejournal to address a growing controversy that, although seemingly niche even relative to the already niche world of geekdom, is indicative of a problem in Internet culture overall."
topic:hugoawards
George R.R. Martin Continues to Address 'Puppy-gate' Controversy, Says the Hugo Awards May Be Broken: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "In his second post last night, Martin addressed the personal meaning that the Hugos and Worldcon hold for him, and explained the Awards' historically narrow margins of victory and how the small voting pool (at least relative to comparable awards/cons) allowed the self-proclaimed "Sad Puppies" to saturate this year's slate."
topic:hugoawards
they're Rabid, not Sad: kate_nepveu (DW) - "The "Rabid Puppies" slate, the one put forth by Vox Day (a pseudonym for Theodore Beale), is the dominant slate here."
topic:hugoawards
Human Shields, Cabals and Poster Boys: John Scalzi (blog) - "I'm feeling increasingly sorry for the nominees on the Hugo award ballot who showed up on either Puppy slate but who aren't card-carrying Puppies themselves, since they are having to deal with an immense amount of splashback not of their own making."
topic:hugoawards
Sad Puppies Aren't Much Fun: Marie Brennan (blog) - "I've felt for years now that the Hugos are a thing I should maybe be more involved in."
topic:hugoawards
the reason most folk songs are so atrocious is that they were written by the people: Elizabeth Bear (LJ) - "There are a number of proposals being brainstormed in the various fandom internets (remember: anarchy--lots of people working and talking in tandem) towards amending the Hugo voting procedures to prevent slate voting from completely dominating the award."
topic:hugoawards
Slate Pitch: Jim Henley (blog) - "In the short term, I can't see any way to fight slate tactics except with other slates."
topic:hugoawards
on buying some hugo awards, and voting NO AWARD: (blog) - "A lot of people reading this won't know: there is an award called the Hugo, for science fiction and fantasy literature and fannish activities. There are also awards for movies and film, but the big ones are for the written word. It's shaped like a rocket, with a base that changes every year."
topic:hugoawards
Not the affirmative action you meant, not the history you're making: N.K. Jemisin (blog) - "But this isn't exactly the first venerable SFF institution that Those People have attempted to shit all over, so at this point I'm inured to their "inflammatory" tactics."
topic:hugoawards, topic:racism, topic:representation
Things I don't understand about puppies (the sad kind).: la_marquise_de_ (LJ) - "So I just learnt that both Mr Correia and Mr Torgersen debuted in 2009. I debuted (as a novelist) that year, too. From the sense of ownership and entitlement they express over sff, I had assumed they were old hands, who'd been working and writing for at least a decade, probably more."
topic:hugoawards, topic:awards
we'd better all be ready to go to the business meeting: (blog) - "The Sad/Rabid Puppies have already moved to threats. That's good. It gets everything right out into the open, so we all know the grounds we're operating on here."
topic:hugoawards
The Biggest Little SF Publisher you never heard of pull son the jackboots: Charlie Stross (blog) - "But, interestingly, a new Hugo-related record has been set: for a Finnish publisher few people have ever heard of is responsible for no fewer than nine nominated works."
topic:hugoawards
Talk with me about being a fan of science fiction and fantasy: Mary Robinette Kowal (blog) - "Watching the debate about the Hugo awards, I've noticed that both sides are saying that the wrong fans are making decisions."
topic:hugoawards
Next Puppy Please 4/11: Mike Glyer (blog) - "Sad Puppies suddenly remembered today they love Tor Books after all, for no particular rea$on. Mary Robinette Kowal offered to underwrite 10 Worldcon member$hips to grow fandom beyond the enclave. Gawker hates that George R.R. Martin is lo$ing money blogging about Sad Puppies instead of finishing his book. George himself returns to the lists in a post condemning hate speech. That and many other opinions are canvassed in today's roundup."
topic:hugoawards
The 2015 Hugo Awards: Why I Am Voting No Award in the Best Fan Writer Category: Abigail Nussbaum (blog) - "As difficult as this is to say, my plan at the moment is to rank Mixon below No Award, and I'd like to talk for a bit about my reasons for doing that."
topic:hugoawards
Some thoughts on the Hugos: carbonel (LJ) - "My theory is that the problem with the Hugos is that the field is just too damned large."
topic:hugoawards
SAD PUPPIES 3: The unraveling of an unreliable field: Brad R. Torgersen (blog) - "I want to introduce another theory. One that others have spoken of before. I call it the "Unreliable packaging" theory."
topic:hugoawards
The Incredible Hulk
Mega Marvel Rewatch: The Incredible Hulk: owlmoose (DW) - "My impression remains that, although the film is officially part of MCU canon, it stands a bit apart from the rest."
fandom:mcu
Iron Man
Mega Marvel Rewatch: Iron Man: owlmoose (DW) - "So, Iron Man! Where it all started. It's easy to forget, so many years and films later, that without the commercial and critical success of this movie, we wouldn't even have a Marvel Cinematic Universe."
fandom:mcu
Mega Marvel Rewatche: Iron Man 2: owlmoose (DW) - "One of my main issues with this film has always been its overabundance of plot."
fandom:mcu
iZombie
IZombie, Season 1, Episode 4: Liv and Let Liv: Sparky (blog) - "In past episodes this show has been surprisingly subtle and willing to comment when it came to gender and race and this whole thing felt… jarring, so much so I do actually wonder if it was a poorly executed attempt at commentary rather than just a terrible attempt at humour."
fandom:izombie, warning:spoilers
James Bond
Bond Girl: Re-Watching and Re-Evaluating From Russia With Love: Zina Hutton (blog) - "I'm going to be honest: From Russia With Love alternately bored and annoyed me. The high points of the film were the political parts and the fight scenes, but there was so much more that I either felt uncomfortable with or that straight up made me angry."
fandom:jamesbond
Jane Austen/Georgette Heyer
Hapax and Heyer, Austen and Irony, or, What I should have said: Sherwood Smith (blog) - "In the last year or so, I've been asked by people both in person at con panels and at my Jane Austen book club discussion group, as well as on line, what I see as the difference between Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer."
fandom:literature
Labyrinth/Legend
Magical Mondays: Legend, Labyrinth, and the Fae: Tsunderin (blog) - "Yet here we are again, and I find myself with the time to discuss Legend's atrocious portrayal of the fae in comparison to Labyrinth's—the latter of which seems to keep closer to the actual lore surrounding the fae instead of discounting it entirely."
fandom:labyrinth, fandom:legend, topic:myth
LadyStar
How To Fight Like A Girl: Why LadyStar Has The Greatest Fighting Team of Teenage Girls Ever Assembled: Theodore Jefferson (blog) - "W. Scott's challenge was to create a world where a sixteen year-old girl could face hand-to-hand combat and convince readers she had an authentic chance to win."
fandom:ladystar
How To Fight Like A Girl, Part 2: LadyStar, Teamwork, and Empowering Female Characters: Theodore Jefferson (blog) - "In my scholarship of these stories and their characters, I postulate that were it not for the cultural events of the late 1990s, the advent of heroic girls in the 21st century would have been either subdued or absent altogether."
fandom:ladystar
Last Man on Earth
Last Man On Earth, Season One, Episode Eight: The Do-Over: Renee (blog) - "We are now on episode nine and it has become evident that probably even before the virus wiped everyone out, Phil was a horrible human being."
fandom:lastmanonearth, warning:spoilers
Last Man On Earth Season One, Episode Nine: Pranks for Nothing: Renee (blog) - "Okay, this was supposed to be Phil's growth episode."
fandom:lastmanonearth, warning:spoilers
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: Flights of Fancy: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "This chapter could be wholly devoted to Skyward Sword since the name itself implies a departure from land, but instead we'll examine literal, figurative, and ironic instances of flight that occur throughout the Zelda series."
fandom:legendofzelda
Gossip Stone: What would a more "mature" Zelda game be like?: Thomas Jacobs (blog) - "There exists a group of fans who call for more games like that, taking the series to explore darker and more "mature" themes. But what are these themes and how should the series look at them?"
fandom:legendofzelda
Leverage
Untitled: gyzym (Tumblr) - "what is or your favorite thing about the leverage ot3? also, do u have a favorite ot3 moment(s)???"
fandom:leverage
Lost River
Review: Ryan Gosling's Anti-Misogyny Directorial Debut Lost River Deserves A Look: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Because this movie does have an audience out there – it's an "adult fairy tale," set in the modern era with all the sexuality and violence of the pre-Disney variety."
fandom:lostriver
Mad Men
Work Won't Save You: The New Season of 'Mad Men' Changes Everything: Judy Berman (blog) - "These metaphors aren't shocking, or even necessarily new; what's surprising is that they say more about Don's relationship to work than his relationships with his wives, girlfriends, and one-night stands."
fandom:madmen
Marvel Cinematic Universe
MCU speculation invited: princessofgeeks (DW) - "Today I've been reading speculation about what will be going on in Avengers: Age of Ultron and in Captain America 3: Civil War."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Invisible Women: Why Marvel's Gamora & Black Widow Were Missing From Merchandise, And What We Can Do About It: Annie N. Mouse (blog) - "Disney does not care about Marvel's female market, which makes us virtually invisible."
fandom:mcu, topic:merchandise
How 'Captain America 3' got turned on its head: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "Behind the scenes, it's a fascinating example of how the creative process for this kind of franchise really works."
fandom:mcu
Marvel Comics
From Kitty to Kamala: The Heroes Who Made Ms. Marvel: Steve Morris (blog) - "What's fascinating about the character, though, is how clearly she's embedded into the tradition of superhero comics, and how you can draw a direct line from her back through Marvel's history, to some of the company's most popular female superheroes. Kamala broke through at just the right moment in time, in just the right way, for the readership to embrace her, but she owes a debt to several characters that came before her."
fandom:marvelcomics, topic:femalecharacter
Female Heroes Lead Marvel BOGO Titles On Comixology: Janelle Asselin (blog) - "In March, ComiXology had a buy one, get one free sale on Marvel titles, where you could literally buy any of the Marvel issues in their store. This morning they announced that, during that sale, seven out of the top ten comics sold were books with female heroes."
fandom:marvelcomics
Mulan
Fans are worried that Disney will whitewash 'Mulan': Aja Romano (blog) - "Since the announcement last month that Disney is making a live-action adaptation of its animated film Mulan, fans of the story have been keen to make sure the title character retains her heritage."
fandom:disney, topic:whitewashing, topic:race
Olympus
Olympus, Season 1, Episode 2: Daedelus: Sparky (blog) - "For all the things this show does well, its violence feels real (well, except the bizarre rope tricks)."
fandom:olympus, warning:spoilers
One Direction
Untitled: justawordshaker (Tumblr) - "dude, now i definitely need to hear your thoughts on louis being quiet at bootcamp"
fandom:onedirection
One Piece
Arlong Park Arc: Part VIII: we_are (DW) - "As we conclude the Arlong Park Arc, we explore Arlong's complicated Nami feels, see Luffy having just about enough of this bullshit, save the day, have a party and set sail to a new adventure!"
fandom:onepiece
The Loguetown Adventure: Part I: we_are (DW) - "In this Adventure we look at how the Straw Hats are starting to bond and play, we look at the power of nerdry, the ripples that have begun to travel through the world, but mostly? Marines. Marine ideology. Marine practicality and examine Tashigi and Smoker."
fandom:onepiece
One Piece and Its Dead Mother Cemetary: Vernieda Vergara (blog) - "The dead mother isn't a new trope nor is it unique to manga. From Lily Potter to Kya from Avatar: The Last Airbender, dead mothers populate the angsty backstory of many protagonists embarking on their hero's journey. We can find dead mothers everywhere in fictional narratives. What sets One Piece apart is the number of dead mothers."
fandom:onepiece
Outlander
The "Feminism" of Outlander: Sparky (blog) - "Like other speculative fiction conversions of material from books to television, such as The Walking Deadand Game of Thrones, Outlander has ignited large swathes of conversation, particularly in concern to its feminist credentials."
fandom:outlander
Outlander Episode 9: The Reckoning: Redheadedgirl (blog) - "I said back in the fall that I was really looking forward to the discussion the beating would generate, and I still stand by that."
fandom:outlander, warning:spoilers
Pillars of Eternity
Game Talk: Pillars of Eternity: Lynn E. O'Connacht (blog) - "Let's start with the inevitable: This is a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate games, created at least partially by the same team. Yet this is not Baldur's Gate."
fandom:gaming, warning:spoilers
The Returned
The Returned, season 1, Episode 5: Tony & Adam: Sparky (blog) - "We're getting much more deviation from the French version this episode, especially with Victor's storyline moving so much faster."
fandom:thereturned, warning:spoilers
Revolutionary Girl Utena/Kill La Kill
Revolutionary Girl Showdown: Utena vs. Kill La Kill: Jo Fu (blog) - "I'm not going to smugly point out similarities between Revolutionary Girl Utena and Kill La Kill. Instead, I'm going to smugly assert, right out the gate, that they're the same show. Both shows portray the same exaggerated coming-of-age story of a woman fighting against the established infrastructure of her society. The question is this: how has the revolutionary girl narrative changed over time? And why?"
fandom:anime, topic:femalecharacter, warning:rape
Salem
Salem, Season 2, Episode 1: Cry Havoc: Sparky (blog) - "Last season I made the point that all the witches of Salem had been abused or mistreated or were otherwise powerless – so I do quite like Mary's line "we're all angry at someone" because they all are."
fandom:salem, warning;spoilers
Sherlock
"The Work vs The Game: Perceptions of Labor and Leisure in Sherlock": notagarroter (blog) - "I've been puzzling lately over the mixed messages in Sherlock with regards to work and play. Why is it that sometimes Sherlock refers to his detecting and deductions as "the work" and other times it's described as a game?"
fandom:bbcsherlock
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes and Politics: Alistair Duncan (blog) - "Given that, here in the UK, we've now entered the General Election season, is it perhaps time to wonder what Sherlock Holmes's political affiliation would have been?"
fandom:acdsherlock
The Snow Queen
Femslash Friday: Gerda/The Robber Girl: Love and Knives Under the Northern Lights: Victoria Don (blog) - "Allow me to bring your attention to his work "The Snow Queen: A Tale in Seven Stories" — or, as I like to think of it, "A Tale in Six Stories and One Massive, Dripping Slice of Unintentional and Delightful Lesbian Subtext So Blatant that it is Honestly Barely Even Subtext.""
fandom:fairytales, topic:femslash
A Song of Ice and Fire
Top Characters #19 Tywin Lannister: Johnny (blog) - "No one would deny that Tywin Lannister did many evil things in his life for which he will be long remembered. Historians, on the other hand, may have to dig really deep to unearth any good."
fandom:asoiaf
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Sansa III, ACOK: Steven Attewell (blog) - "If in the past I have alluded to Sansa's plotline in ACOK of abuse and survival, here is where that theme really forces itself to the forefront."
fandom:asoiaf, warning:abuse
Top Characters #18 Theon Greyjoy: Daeron Martell (blog) - "In a series that focuses so much of its thematic content on the idea of personal identity, no character encapsulates this notion of belonging more cruelly or heartbreakingly than Theon Greyjoy."
fandom:asoiaf
Star Trek
Untitled: David Gerrold (blog) - "William Lehman has written a screed about how he who controls the mythology of a nation controls the identity of the nation. I'll agree with that original assertion. But then he uses that as a springboard for a somewhat ill-considered extrapolation that people afflicted with fuzzy-wuzzy thinking have spoiled his precious nuts-and-bolts science fiction."
fandom:startrek, topic:science, topic:socialjustice, topic:culture
Star Wars
William Shakespeare's The Phantom Menace as Reviewed by Kay: Kay (blog) - "Before I even started reading this latest edition, I felt like the novelty of crossing the two streams had finally worn off. But by the time I was twenty pages into the book, I found myself giddy all over again at recognizing references to some of my favorite Shakespeare plays and lines."
fandom:starwars, fandom:literature
The Radicalization of Jar Jar Binks: K.M. MCFARLAND (blog) - "So when it came time for Ian Doescher, author of William Shakespeare's Star Wars and its corresponding sequels The Empire Striketh Back and The Jedi Doth Return, to tackle the prequel trilogy in Shakespearean verse, there was a Gungan-sized stumbling block."
fandom:starwars, fandom:literature
Untitled: deadcatwithaflamethrower (Tumblr) - "I've seen a couple of posts around about Obi Wan possibly being 20 years old in the Phantom menace instead of per Disney canon's age of 25 and I was wondering if you knew more about this info and its source?"
fandom:starwars
Untitled: anghraine (Tumblr) - "Essentially benevolent people/organizations sow the seeds of their destruction or corruption (different things, thank you Obi-Wan) by allowing themselves to become complicit in wrongdoing."
fandom:starwars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Untitled: norcumi (Tumblr) - "You said you could name TCW eps with Rex/Obi-Wan stuff? I'd love a list to go watch. I usually read Obi as (aro)/ace, but Rex/Obi is growing on me, and I'd like to see where you're coming from (NGL, I focused more on the relationships involving Anakin when I watched the series)."
fandom:starwars
Star Wars Rebels
Hyperspace Theories Episode Eight: Star Wars Rebels: Hyperspace Theories (podcast) - "We consider the entire first season of Rebels to evaluate the choices made by the storytellers in building the small slice of the galaxy where the series begins its tale."
fandom:starwars
Steven Universe
Sexualized Saturday: Steven Universe and Soft Masculinity: brothadom (blog) - "But, I think masculinity can, and should, manifest in other ways: emotional strength, love, and bravery. These attributes could be considered "soft masculinity" as a counter to more aggressive, "hard masculinity"."
fandom:stevenuniverse
Supernatural
Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 17: Inside Man: Sparky (blog) - "He's an atheist who believes in the proven supernatural (he is, after all, a mind reader) that doesn't deny the existence of angels – or of powerful beings that call themselves angels. This actually applies, to some degree, to the show as well – after all, we know angels are the agents of god because… they say they are."
fandom:supernatural, warning:spoilers
Supernatural - love is all you need LOL: cupidsbower (Tumblr) - "What a good episode. The plot has thickened so much it's practically custard, and there are romance tropes all over the place."
fandom:supernatural
Identity Crisis 101 by Rowena: memberoftheangelgarrison (Tumblr) - "During the last episode I realised yet another topic I didn't recover until just now, the significance of roles. Now, some of you may say 'yeah yeah, but dude, that's nothing new' but let me tell you; there's a huge difference between the roles you put yourself into, the roles you get forced into, and who you truly are."
fandom:supernatural
Thor
Victor/VicThoria: Feminism, Personhood & Hammering Out the Trouble with Thor: Nyala Ali (blog) - "The fundamental problem with the current run of Thor is that it doesn't seem to be very invested in Thor herself."
fandom:marvelcomics
Tolkien
Talks on Tolkien: Dawn Walls-Thumma on transformative works: Dawn Walls-Thumma (video) - "In her presentation, Dawn talks about the rise of Tolkien fandom and the development of different fan communities with the advent of Internet fandom."
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:fandom
Thoughts on Gandalf: determanfidd (tumblr) - "I admire him in some ways. I love his love of Hobbits. I love that he makes fireworks for children, and smokes pipeweed in wizardly ways."
fandom:jrrtolkien
Exceptional mothers of Middle Earth: askmiddleearth (tumblr) - "It's true that there is an above-average trend of maternal abandonment in Tolkien's stories (you can read more about that here), and aside from those cases there are plenty of mothers who, through no fault of their own, did not live to see their children grow up. And there are plenty of mothers whose relationships with their children are simply never described. But there are also, dear Anon, several excellent maternal role models in Middle Earth. Just a few of my favorites"
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:femalecharacter
Maedhros and Maglor the saving angels of the Earandilion?: starvaultoftheheavens (tumblr) - "The idea in this fandom that Maedhros and Maglor were gracious little angels for "rescuing" Elrond and Elros makes me so furious"
fandom:jrrtolkien
Twin Peaks
The Twin Peaks Log: S.2 E.7: Romona Williams (blog) - "Welcome to our biweekly roundtable of Twin Peaks where we are working our way through every. Single. Episode."
fandom:twinpeaks
Vorkosigan
I Was Right (Ask Me How): dsudis (tumblr) - "Because it turns out I was right about basically all of the tinhat inferences I was drawing, and as we all know nothing is more fun than being right in public."
fandom:vorkosigansaga, warning:spoilers
The Walking Dead
Love Story of the Zombie Apocalypse: Real-Life Horroe in Walking Dead: Shannon Gibney (blog) - "Yes, folks, there is a thing more dangerous than a feral, brain-munching horde of zombies: A straight white man who swears that he will do everything in his power to save and protect you and your children."
fandom:thewalkingdead, topic:race, topic:psychology
Where The Boys Are (1960)
Re-View: Spring Break Begins With Where The Boys Are (1960): Lesley Coffin (blog) - "Where the Boys Are is a classic, lush MGM movie from Producer Joe Pasternak (a fascinating Hollywood figure), but it's also a sex comedy about college co-eds heading to Fort Lauderdale for spring break, focusing on the sexual concerns and drives of women."
fandom:wheretheboysare
The Wind Rises
The Wind Rises… and falls: foxinthestars (DW) - "Somehow I was braced for The Wind Rises to be worse than it was, and I will say it was interesting, but I won't say it was great."
fandom:thewindrises
Wrestling
multiple people (Tumblr) - "The "Fake Relationship" trope is real life in professional wrestling, actually. Wrestling has a long tradition of "kayfabe," which basically means "pretending that this is an actual sport and not an exceptionally fighty soap opera.""
fandom:wrestling, topic:tropes
X-Men/Marvel Cinematic Universe
Oh, My Pop Culture Judaism: Jewish Erasure & Discrimination in the X-Men & Marvel Movie Adaptations: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "And sadly we can see this attitude reflected in our own geek culture. Today I am going to specifically talk about the anti-Semitism in the X-Men/Marvel Movie Universe."
fandom:x-men, fandom:mcu, topic:racism
Yurikuma Arashi
A Bearhug To The Heart I Didn't Expect: A Yurikuma Arashi Review: MarchHareMoe (blog) - "Yurikuma Arashi shows how queer relationships can be complex and difficult, and touches on different forms of love, even familial."
fandom:anime, topic:lgbt, topic:animaltransformation