22 April 2015 - 29 April 2015
May. 2nd, 2015 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
metanewsmods posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
metanewsNotices
If you have meta to submit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
A Proposal: mostlyvalid (Tumblr) - "Sometimes, in fandom, we just want to write id-tastic fic that rolls around in tropes that might be viewed as problematic. But we don’t want to address the problematic side of things in this particular fanwork; we just want to roll around and wallow."
Diversity in Comics: What About Disability?: chipreece (Tumblr) - "Almost nobody talks about the inclusion of characters with disabilities."
Untitled: greenbergsays (Tumblr) - "Two of my favorite topics, really, but one of my all time favorite things is the handling of interspecies relationships in fanfiction."
Journalfen server status: not so robust: snacky (DW) - Information on the current status of Journalfen
Christopher Nolan Mad Me Hate Comic Book Movies: Tyler Coates (blog) - "I enjoy action movies just fine, and I’ve seen my fare share of comic book adaptations in recent years. But honestly, I’ve gotten really tired with the genre. The reason? They feel so much less fun than they used to be."
Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Importance of Comics: Abraham Riesman and Ta-Nehisi Coates (blog) - "But why are superheroes resonating so strongly? And are they worthy of the attention? These questions are important enough to compel Ta-Nehisi Coates to take a timeout from kicking off national conversations about race and politics, don his fanboy cape, and go in search of the answers."
The Ebooks-Trees fic- and ebook-scraping business: Diane Duane (Tumblr) - "And lo and behold, there are four of my books (well, three really, they got A Wizard Abroad twice) still there. So now I get to DMCA them again."
e-books-tree.com Update: anthfan (Tumblr) - "However, someone else has said that ebooks-tree has removed all the Ao3 user names and are changing the titles to make them more difficult to search/find your stories and prove that they’ve been stolen."
Untitled: various anonymous folks (DW) - Discussion of having read rape fic as a kid.
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - "But for some reason, some very mysterious reason, only same gender relationships in fiction are expected to be slow-burning, exemplary, and exceptional. They can’t just happen, they need to "make sense", nobody has short or random romances, and it’s all very "partner for life in the long-term.""
THIS NEEDS TO BE A MEME OKAY: rydra_wong (DW) - "All you scent/fandom geeks: what scent or selection of scents should one watch to wear your show of choice? Pick your olfactory playlist!"
Why do we mock teenage girls who love One Direction when Top Gear fans are just the same?: Elizabeth Minkel (blog) - "The online mockery of fans of Zayn Malik, who left One Direction the same day Jeremy Clarkson was fired, would never be levelled at grown-up sports or Top Gear fans."
How to praise writers and influence fics: icybluepenguin (Tumblr) - "But maybe readers don’t know what to say. Maybe you’re new to Tumblr, new to reading fan fiction, shy, or just not sure how to say what you want to say."
How to Enjoy Fandom: kalloway (DW) - "There are three basic 'rules' to enjoying time spent in fandom and they're very simple"
Untitled: marta-bee (Tumblr) - "In a long story there will be things that "displease" you. And in a world where people are coming at the same basic story from different positions, there will be bits that I don’t like."
Untitled: marta-bee (Tumblr) - "Reading this meta by someone who I didn’t end up agreeing with reminded me that we were starting with the same show and actually applying rather similar methodologies."
The Significance and Possibilities of DC Super Hero Girls: Janelle Asselin (blog) - "This is a big deal not just in terms of comics, but in terms of licensed products for kids. But is this kind of gendered initiative what we need? Or is it, as some have stated, "pandering"? Unsurprisingly, I have a lot of thoughts on this matter."
On Privilege, Casting, and Loss: Squid, Inc. (blog) - "The subject of "loss" brings me closer to my actual point: a significant proportion of white male rage over changing the gender and race of superheroes can be connected to a sense of loss."
Sexualized Saturdays: Wait, Are You Saying I Accidentally Bestiality?: pantydragon (blog) - "Why does no one think of these human/non-human relationships as bestiality? In the context of non-human but sentient races, what defines bestiality, and does the concept even apply? Which people may we acceptably bang and why may we bang those people and not others?"
The Old Guy Action Comeback: I’m Getting Too Old for This Sh*t: Ryan Britt (blog) - "So, what’s the deal? Is there a bizarre cultural obsession with old guy comebacks?"
Message Fiction: Politics in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Literature: The G (blog) - "And then there are, of course, questions of: (a) quality, i.e. "is this message being conveyed effectively"; and (b) alignment, i.e. "do I like or agree with the message conveyed." Unfortunately, readers often confuse (b) for (a)."
Why Minority Settings in RPGs Matter: Whitney Strix Beltran (blog) - "Most gamers unconsciously gravitate to the straight white male as our hero, our role model, and the baseline for play."
Fandom inspires a mystic world of pop-culture tarot: Aja Romano (blog) - Image heavy. Discussion of tarot as it relates to fanart projects.
Lara Croft isn’t good enough - video games need more real women: Suzanne Samin (blog) - "To me, more realistic video game characters overwhelmingly benefit a group of gamers. That group is women."
Magical Mondays: Really, Do Not Sign That Contract: Lady Saika (blog) - "Although the idea of a contract in real life is ostensibly meant to protect both parties’ interests and hold both parties accountable, this is almost never the case in fiction. When a contract shows up, you know it’s bad news, and if it’s a magical contract, just, like, don’t even read it. Instead of reading it, run."
Specific Fandom
The 100
Untitled: dedalvs (Tumblr) - "Unless I’ve misunderstood the situation, I don’t see how they wouldn’t all speak English after 100 years."
Agents of SHIELD
Be White or Explode: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "Agents of SHIELD starts out as a black superhero story."
Stealing Your Relics for Your Own Good: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "Second episode of Agents of SHIELD, just as racist as the first? Somewhat improbably, yes."
The Americans
Pre-finale links:
jae (DW) - Collection of links to essays and articles written before the finale.
Post-finale links galore!: jae (DW) - What the title says. Lots of links to articles and essays about the show.
Ant-Man
Untitled: copperbadge (Tumblr) - "Well, the movie is the nexus of a lot of super problematic shit Marvel has pulled for decades, so there’s a lot to hate."
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Untitled: captain-foulenough (Tumblr) - "I don’t usually do this, but I think that Age of Ultron requires a trigger warning for anyone who is struggling with fertility/infertility."
So I saw Age of Ultron last night: alasse-irena (Tumblr) - "…and it deserves a looong reaction post dissecting my thoughts on it. I have a lot of opinions, but this got long enough when I was only talking about Steve and Tony and Natasha, and not even touching on the plot, or the Maximoff twins or anything. It is also very rambling. There will be spoilers under the cut, so click no further unless you want them."
Avengers: Age of Ultron: iamshadow (DW) - "On the whole, I loved it. I was worried it was going to be too grim, and it wasn't."
Avengers: Age of Ultron Party Post!: endeni (LJ) - "So, this is the place where, during the critical gap between April 22 and the US release in May 1 (and possibly after, yay!), those of us who have seen the movie already get to squee about it without fear of spoiling anyone else."
Avengers: Age of Ultron: selenak (DW) - "Non-spoilery version: I liked, though didn't love it the way i did the first movie."
Avengers: Age of Ultron: schneefink (DW) - "It's pretty much exactly like Avengers, except on a larger scale. Entertaining, but only as long as I don't think about it. Actually I liked it less than Avengers even when watching it for the first time, because it had some wtf moments that interrupted the experience."
’Avengers: Age of Ultron’ is bloated and untidy, but just entertaining enough: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "The opening act of Avengers: Age of Ultron gives fans exactly what they wanted after The Avengers in 2012: the whole team fighting together as a unit, then going home for a party at Avengers Tower."
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015): marina (DW) - "Warning: although the first Avengers is probably still my favorite MCU movie, I didn't enjoy this one much."
Batgirl
Lest We Forget: Batgirl. Bat GIRL. Bats, Comics, and Girls: Marcy J. Cook (blog) - "What DC got wrong was the tone on a couple of covers. Look at how spot on the Catwoman cover is, or Aquaman’s or Superman’s faux wedding. Then look at Batgirl’s cover, and to a lesser degree Wonder Woman’s cover. The tonal difference is stark."
Black Panther
Why The Black Panther Is Marvel’s Answer to Batman: Drupkins (blog) - "The highly anticipated film may finally alert the public to one fundamental truth about the Wakandan superhero. For all intents and purposes, the Black Panther is Marvel’s answer to Batman."
Buffy
Untitled: fanccubus (Tumblr) - "Poor little Dawny. I know there are still people who hate her introduction to the show, but think of this: you’re thirteen. You don’t quite know exactly who you are, and you worry about being too fake, or being too real, or being too anything other than exactly average."
Untitled: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "Buffy and Drusilla: Angel created Drusilla as a living-dead reminder of the corruption he’s capable of. A trophy, for the great accomplishment of twisting such a good soul into the dark creature she became.
And he wanted to do the same with Buffy."
Dusted 29: Hellmouse: Dusted (podcast) - "This week, Buffy returns home, the dead rise, and we finally arrive at Joyce The Human Being! It’s time for "Dead Man’s Party" (3.02)"
Dusted 27: Remedial Duct Tape: Dusted (podcast) - "This week, we begin season three with the just a little Sunnydale and a whole lot of Buffy in "Anne" (3.01)."
Untitled: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Honest question- do we know how Spike heard that Willow flayed someone alive?"
Just what did the gypsies curse Angel with, anyway?: tei-lj (LJ) - "Um yeah so I actually have finished S5 of Angel, but instead of writing about any of that for some reason I wrote about souls? Specifically, Angel’s soul vs. everyone else’s soul, and whether what the thing we have now seen him gain and lose several times even counts."
Untitled: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Unpopular opinion but, every creepy fuckery Edward Cullen does… Angel did it first."
Buffy Rewatch S3E16: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Willow goes on about how crazy Faith is, Buffy pretty much flinches when Faith touches her, and Giles won’t even ask for her help when the bronze has been taken over by vampires and it’s full of civilians. Yet, nobody apparently cares about what Anya has done in this episode alone?"
Captain America
Untitled: synecdochic and others (DW) - A long, detailed thread about back pay and taxes and such as it would affect Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.
Castle
Untitled: castleramblings (Tumblr) - "Do you think Castle's character has room to grow in the sharing with Beckett area?"
Columbiana
Waiting for Alan Rickman: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "Except…somewhere, somehow, something goes horribly wrong. Cattaleya, the good guy (or in this case good gal), wreaks horrible vengeance on slimy evildoers just the way she’s supposed to…but somehow the prime evildoers, the guys we’re supposed to love to hate, are brutally blindsided not by our heroine, but rather by a series of viciously sodden subplots."
Daredevil
more from 9 eps in…: laporcupina (Tumblr) - "Non-spoilery things I like about Daredevil beyond Matt Murdock’s voice."
NOC Recaps Daredevil: AKA Law & Order Hell’s Kitchen: Eric S.B. (blog) - "I brought this up in my recap for "Into the Ring," but "Rabbit in a Snowstorm" is where we really get the Law & Order: Hell’s Kitchen portion of the show."
Daredevil, Catholicism, and the Marvel Moral Universe: Leah Schnelbach (blog) - "The other thing that I love is how the show’s brutal world is informed by the particularly Catholic morality of its hero."
Oh, My Pop Culture Devil of Hell’s Kitchen: Is Daredevil the Religious Hero We’ve Been Waiting For?: Lady Saika (blog) - "It goes without saying, then, that I tuned into Daredevil with some trepidation on the religion front. Matt Murdock is probably one of the most devoutly religious Catholic characters in comics (that I’m familiar with, at least). Would his faith make the jump to the screen?"
Okay, Internet hive mind…: sholio (DW) - "In the episode in which Foggy and Karen have their "date" (1x06, I think), there's a part of that scene in which my interpretation seems to be 180 degrees off from the prevailing fandom interpretation, at least based on what I'm picking up from fic, which is pretty much 100% going with this other version. So I would like to see what you all think."
Daredevil/Batman v Superman
Daredevil v Batman v Superman: Getting Angst Right in the Superhero Genre: Petra Halbur (blog) - "This begs the question, what did Daredevil do right and what is Batman v Superman doing (or rather predicted to do) wrong? In other words, when is angst compelling in a superhero story and when is it grating?"
DC Comics
Doing the Krypton Crawl: Jaz Jacobi (blog) - "But Superman’s journey from Man of Tomorrow to lame old-timer represents a complicated trail, the character walking a razor’s edge between the ephemera of junk culture charm and the drive to make superhero stories—and likewise their creators and devotees—seem "mature.""
Doctor Who
I know what the Midnight entity was…: whatwecanfic (Tumblr) - "Ok so I had an epiphany the other night and I’m pretty much 100% certain I know what the mysterious creature in Midnight was."
Tim’s Take On: Episode 276(Doctor Who: World War Three commentary): Tim Drury (podcast) - "World War III almost breaks out but thankfully the Doctor was there to prevent it as my coverage of the 2005 series reaches Doctor Who: World War Three."
World War Three: Neil Parryman (blog) - Liveblogging of a watch of the episode in question with someone who hasn’t seen it before.
Should Doctor Who Abandon Continuity?: James Baldock (blog) - "Continuity never used to exist in Doctor Who (Terrance Dicks has said on more than one occasion that ‘History is what you can remember’). And then it did, and it’s impossible to really maintain it properly – but it still seems to matter, and as a result many fans are obsessive about seeing patterns in things that aren’t there."
The Randomizer: Paradise Towers: louisedennis (LJ) - "Paradise Towers is the first story that really has the stamp of Andrew Cartmel's style as script editor - a sort of angry whimsey with a tendency to ask the audience to join the dots themselves to fill in the backstory (though that is not so obvious here as it would become in later stories)."
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Pixelthreads: Dragon Age: Inquisition and the Politics of Dress: Megan Patterson (blog) - "And in the game of politics, what you wear and when is as important as with whom you choose to ally yourself. Dragon Age: Inquisition occasionally seems to understand this: there’s at least one dialogue with Vivienne where you discuss as much. But the game never really seems to understand how to implement it into an integral part of the gameplay."
Ex Machina
Ex Machina (2015): starlady (DW) - " I think it was Kate Elliott on Twitter who made a comment about it last year that tipped me off, and I have to say, it's one of the best and most stylish SF movies I've seen in a while. I would highly recommend it to just about everybody."
Sci-Fi Films Need More Big Ideas Like Ex Machina’s: Geeks Guide to the Galaxy (podcast) - "The new science fiction thriller Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland, is one of the year’s most intelligent and thought-provoking films, full of heady concepts like the Turing test and Mary’s Room."
The Fast and the Furious
One Last Ride: Why Furious 7’s Ending Had Us All In Tears: Desiree Rodriguez (blog) - "One of my roommates, however, didn’t quite get it. "You cried over a Fast & Furious movie?" he asked, brows furrowed in honest confusion. What followed was a good ten to fifteen minutes of playful ribbing and jokes. All of which boiled down to one singular incredulous question on their part: why would you cry over a Fast & Furious movie?"
Firefly
Point/Counterpoint: Does Firefly Still Matter?: Katharine Trendacosta and James Whitbrook (blog) - "Welcome to a new feature: Point/Counterpoint, where we debate, vehemently, angrily, over issues of extreme importance. Today: Does Firefly still matter?"
Forever
Forever, Season 1, Episode 21: The Night In Question: Sparky (blog) - Episode summary with some meta comments at the end.
Game of Thrones
Good, Bad, and Ugly Parents of Game of Thrones: Nate Jones (blog) - "But for most lordly parents we've seen, caring about a dynasty isn't the same thing as caring about the actual people who make it up."
Game of Thrones Discussion, S5E2: Boxed in: Laura Fletcher, Corrin Bennett-Kill, and Cheryl Collins (blog) - "Open the windows and join us for a discussion of "The House of Black and White" with three fans with different perspectives: Laura Fletcher, a casual fan of the television and book series; Corrin Bennett-Kill, a dedicated fan of the book and TV series (she has read all the books four times!); and Cheryl Collins, who does not read."
Myth, History and Game of Thrones: fenzel (blog) - "The characters in Game of Thrones definitely map onto different mythological traditions and historical events, but it happens in various complex and interconnected ways."
Boiled Leather Audio Hour Episode 38: Boiled Leather Audio Hour (podcast) - "BLAH is back with two, count ‘em, two topics! This go-round, Stefan & Sean tackle the new "Alayne" sample chapter from The Winds of Winter and the first two episodes of Game of Thrones Season Five."
Tailgate, Little Bastard: Johnny (blog) - A large collection of links to reviews, interviews and meta about season 5
"Game of Thrones" politics: War makes for strange bedfellows, indeed: Steven Attewell (blog) - "The central difficulty of feudal politics – whether we’re talking about Europe after the partition of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century and the rise of the modern nation-state in the 16th and 17th centuries, or Japanese history between the Genpei War in the 12th century and the end of the Sengoku Jidai – is that a system based on a liege lord distributing landed power to a military caste in return for their loyalty breaks down when fiefdoms become jealously-guarded inheritances instead of gifts that can be distributed and redistributed at will to keep vassals eager to gain favor and avoid wrath."
Deconstructed: High Sparrow: Stefan (blog) - "We're officially in new territory with a whole host of storylines now. Sansa and Littlefinger, Jaime and Bronn, the whole northern storyline and soon enough the Watch as well - so far, the season proves that it can stand on its own, a feat many doubted it was capable of given the mixed track record it enjoys in those areas. But let's see for ourselves how things stand this week, shall we?"
High Sparrow Open Thread: Johnny (blog) - "This open thread is for all viewers, including book readers who may want to compare the show to the book."
High Sparrow: Philip Sandifer (blog) - "But if you were to suggest a generalized pattern for a season, the third episode would be a point of drastic acceleration."
Game of Thrones producers explain changing Sansa’s storyline: James Hibberd (blog) - "Showrunners talk about that huge twist - that was very different from the books"
Return to Westeros: "High Sparrow" Review: MadameAce (blog) - "So far I both love and hate this season. As Game of Thrones will be finishing up before A Song of Ice and Fire, it makes sense to me that the show would start deviating from the source material."
Game of Thrones Discussion, S5E3: What’s in a Name?: Laura Fletcher, Corrin Bennett-Kill, and Cheryl Collins (blog) - "Join us for a discussion of "High Sparrow" with three fans with different perspectives: Laura Fletcher, a casual fan of the television and book series; Corrin Bennett-Kill, a dedicated fan of the book and TV series (she has read all the books four times!); and Cheryl Collins, who does not read."
Game of Thrones, Season 5, Episode 3: High Sparrow: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta at the end.
Review: High Sparrow: ghostlovesinger (blog) - "That said, "High Sparrow" gave us relatively little to complain about and much to get excited for, weaving together quality performances and concluding on a vital and compelling cliffhanger."
The Many Men of Brienne of Tarth: Nate Jones (blog) - "With no set of instructions to follow, the men of Westeros are forced to take Brienne largely on her terms — one of my favorite GOT litmus tests is to figure out which ones can see her for who she really is. Pod does, of course."
Gintama
Untitled: notthepajamas (Tumblr) - The author lists points about Gintama canon, both factual details and calling out problematic points.
Good Night, and Good Luck
Good Night, and Good Luck: attack on McCarthyism simplifies but satisfies: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Evaluation of George Clooney’s film about Edward R. Murrow and Joseph McCarthy from a historian’s point of view.
Gotham
The Ogre is Groot: Gotham’s "Under the Knife": Thom Dunn (blog) - "Leave it to Gotham, a show which has dreadfully mishandled all of its female characters, to build up towards a "climactic finale" about a misogynistic serial killer—and make the audience actually wish that his latest victim would die and go away for good."
Grey’s Anatomy
[Title redacted because it’s a spoiler]: Rachel Wong (blog) - "For weeks, the hashtag #WhereIsDerek trended on Twitter, aprompting fans to wonder if Derek was cheating on his wife."
Grimm
Grimm Season Four, Episode Nineteen: Iron Hans: Renee (blog) - Episode summary with some meta commentary at the end.
Harry Potter
HP reading group session #2.4: drinkingcocoa (LJ) - "So I figured that after hours and hours of heavily prepped sessions, the kids could survive one round of listening to me simply lecture. I chose passages about the battle in the chamber between Harry and diary!Riddle, read them out, and paused periodically to point out details I found significant and explain what I think they mean."
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - The post answers arguments against racebending in Harry Potter fanworks.
This ‘Harry Potter’ fan theory might explain why the Dursleys were the worst: Kelly Lawlor (blog) - "But now a fan theory that is blowing up on Reddit might prove that we were way too harsh on the Dursleys."
Harry Potter and Death: bounding-heart-68 (Tumblr) - "Harry does not take other’s lives. It’s what makes him a counter to Voldemort and is at the core of his characterization and the themes of the series."
House
Episode Discussion Post - 7x7 "A Pox On Our House": house_rewind (LJ) - Discussion and analysis of the episode in question. The meta is in the comments.
Episode Discussion Post - 7x8 "Small Sacrifices": house_rewind (LJ) - Discussion and analysis of the episode in question. The meta is in the comments.
Hugo Awards
why I don’t consider Mixon very praiseworthy: colorblue (DW) - "I've stated before that I think her report has done good, and I stand behind that. I've stated before that RH/WF/BS was abusive and needed to be stopped, that Mixon was one of the few that could've effectively done so, but that the way she did so also created an environment, and set terms of discourse, that made it more difficult to speak out against, to stop, other abusers."
There Hugo again: Kate Paulk (blog) - "And why the people spreading lies about the nominees and about the Sad Puppy campaign (and the Rabid Puppy campaign) have no one to blame but themselves no matter how loudly they scream otherwise."
Keeping Up With the Hugos, 4/20/15: John Scalzi (blog) - "I probably shouldn’t admit that I’m having a schadenfreudilicious time watching Larry Correia and Brad Torgersen now desperately try to put sunlight between themselves and that toxic bigot Vox Day, but I’m not going to lie: I am, and also, it’s not working for them at all, as there is a fairly obvious evidence trail to suggest there was hardly any sunlight between them until Day suddenly became inconvenient."
Discussing Specific Changes to the Hugo Nomination Election: Bruce Schneier (blog) - "This is a continuation of an earlier thread (now closed) about the Hugo nomination process and how it might be modified. It is not a discussion of either 1) whether or not the nomination process should be changed, or 2) any potential changes in the rules about who is allowed to nominate. It is exclusively focused on voting systems and their relative merits, given what happened in the 2015 Hugo nomination process."
Science Fiction’s White Boys’ Club Strikes Back: Jeet Heer (blog) - "Currently, the science fiction world is being torn asunder by a cultural war over diversity, with a hot battle going on over the Hugo Awards, the long-running and prestigious fan-selected awards given out every year at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon)."
The Psychology of Hugo Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies: Maureen O’Danu (blog) - "I am not going to try to diagnose anyone involved in this issue, I am only going to discuss some broad psychological principles that apply."
On crowdsourcing Hugo nominations: nwhyte (LJ) - "It's clear from the figures that of the five novels recommended by Brad Torgerson, only three were actually recommended by his readers."
In Which Edmund Schubert Withdraws From the Hugos: John Scalzi (blog) - Most of the post is a letter from Edmund Schubert, posted at his request, explaining his withdrawal.
Iron Man
"I Am Iron Man" or ‘Tony Stark is a beautiful butterfly’: nocovein (Tumblr) - "In the MCU Iron Man narrative; the suit is a chrysalis - from IM1 where he builds it to IM3 where he destroys it - literally and metaphorically."
iZombie
iZombie, Season 1, Episode 6: Virtual Reality Bites: Sparky (blog) - Episode summary with some meta comments at the end.
James Bond
Bond Girl: Re-Watching and Re-Evaluating Thunderball: Zina Hutton (blog) - "This is the fourth film in the Bond franchise and it’s based on Ian Fleming’s ninth novel, which, in turn, was based on a screenplay written by the trio of Fleming, Jack Whittingham, and Kevin McClory."
Joss Whedon
Untitled: actualmenacebuckybarnes (Tumblr) - "the more i watch joss whedon shows the more i see that he has two distinct female archetypes he likes to torture"
Justified
Justified Wrap-Up: The End: Cheryl (blog) - "After six seasons, Justified finally came to an end … was it a fitting end to this series?"
Kingsman
Eggsy English: rendering dialect in fiction: coffeeinallcaps (Tumblr) - "Reading up on his dialect resulted in this crash course on alternative ways to render dialect in fiction and an overview of what I will be calling Eggsy English* that might be a useful reference for fic writing."
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: Geography Matters: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "This week’s lesson is titled "Geography Matters…" The gist of it is that certain environments breed certain types of people– culturally, psychologically, financially, historically, and otherwise. Aside from general settings, specific geographical monuments also have significance."
A Little Chaos
A Little Chaos: leads historical accuracy down the garden path: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Analysis of a movie about the landscape architact who designed the gardens at Versailles from a historian’s perspective.
Maggie
Review: Maggie Is an Imperfect but Enjoyable Zombie Drama: Dan Van Winkle (blog) - "Maggie, starring Abigail Breslin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Joely Richardson, is a movie that tries to take the zombie craze and boil it down to its most personal, human elements—to varying degrees of success. For a movie that tries so hard not to be a "zombie movie," Maggie as at its best when it embraces its natural sense of suspense."
Marvel Cinematic Universe
’Avengers: Age of Ultron’ PR: Slut-Shaming and Rape Jokes: Janelle Asselin (blog) - "Well, it’s the same for female characters, weirdly enough. People have feelings about how they are portrayed and what their characters are."
Black Widow Gets Left Out of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Merch: Britt Hayes (blog) - "For a studio that’s been making some progress in the female-centric department, Disney is really screwing up when it comes to their merchandise, feeding into the outdated, wrong-headed way of thinking that little girls aren’t into superheroes or that little boys wouldn’t be interested in merchandise featuring a female superhero."
The overwhelming whiteness of superhero movies: Feliks Garcia (blog) - "or all the movies’ merits, however, it’s impossible to ignore the overwhelming white maleness of the Marvel Universe—and every other superhero movie, for that matter."
Is The Avenger’s THOR an Illegal Alien?: Jake Lipman (blog) - "Though Thor is the God of Thunder, and a Prince of Asgard, he arrived in the US as a tourist, with no diplomatic mission or official capacity. And even though Odin sent him here to learn humility, he does not quality as a student."
The Messengers
The Messangers, Season One, Episode Two: Strange Magic: Renee (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
Meteor Prince
Stars, Soulmates, and Shoujo: Meteor Prince Volume 1: Angel Cruz (blog) - "Meteor Prince is a story of hyperbole and extremes, going from zero to 120 kilometers per hour as soon as the two protagonists crash into one another."
Olympus
Olympus, Season 1, Episode 4: Minos: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time, Season 4, Episode 20: Lily: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
The Originals
The Originals, Season Two, Episode Fifteen: When the Levee Breaks: Renee (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
Orphan Black
Orphan Black: "Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis" Review: porluciernagas (blog) - "Orphan Black continues to be delightfully complex this week, as we get more into the Castor clones’ background, motivations, and lives. But don’t worry: the writers haven’t forgotten our Leda clones, and there was a ton of new plot to digest. Having said that, this episode really needed to come with trigger warnings for rape, torture, and possibly epilepsy."
Orphan Black, Season One, Episode Two: Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis: Renee (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
Outlander
Outlander Episode 11: The Devil’s Mark: Redheadedgirl (blog) - "Overall this episode reminded me why I couldn’t live in the past. Uppity women get burned at the stake. I’d have end up as burnt ends just for my liberal use of the word "fuck.""
Penny Dreadful
Untitled: thatyourefuse (DW) - "Five Perfumes To Wear While Watching Penny Dreadful"
The Returned
The Returned, Season 1, Episode 7: Rowan: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
Rhodes of Africa
Rhodes of Africa: only slightly less offensive than the man himself: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Analysis of a 1936 biopic about Cecil Rhodes from the point of view of a historian.
Richard III
Richard III: Laurence Olivier’s melodramatic baddie is seriously limp: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Analysis of Olivier’s performance in Shakespeare’s play from a historian’s perspective.
The Ridiculous Six
Unhappy Gilmore: Native American Actors and Activists Protest New Adam Sandler Project: Arturo R. Garcia (blog) - "If Adam Sandler thought his brand of "humor" would keep getting a pass in 2015, the past few days have surely disabused him of that notion."
Netflix Defends Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six After Native American Actors Walk Off Set in Protest of Horribly Offensive Script: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "Approximately a dozen Native American actors have walked off the set of Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six in protest of the film’s offensive depiction of Native women and elders and its misrepresentation of Apache culture."
Video Shows Producer on Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six Telling Native American Actors to Leave "If You Are Overly Sensitive": (video) - What the title says.
Insulted Native Americans walk off Adam Sandler’s ‘Ridiculous Six’ set: Feliks Garcia (blog) - "When you think "Adam Sandler" and "Western," you expect only the best, historically accurate, culturally sensitive comedy. Right? Unfortunately, since we don’t live in an alternate reality, where up is down, bad means good, and Adam Sandler is "smart comedy," that is not the case."
Salem
Salem: The Tensions Beneath the Accusations: aelarsen (blog) - "When I first started discussing Salem, I looked at the way the series misunderstood Salem as a place. I’ve also mentioned how Salem omits one of the key figures in the Witch Panic, Rev. Samuel Parris. After a lot of intervening posts, it’s time to tackle why those omissions are such a big deal."
Salem, Season 2, Episode 3: From Within: sparky (blog) - "I get that this show is trying to go for creepy & sexy – while last season it seemed to aim far more for grotesqueries, this season is aiming more for creepy & sexy than yucky."
Shakespeare
Bending Shakespeare: Alex Brown (blog) - "And now, with the magic of the internet and several streaming services with extensive catalogues, I can combine my obsession with Shakespeare with my passion for bending."
Sherlock Holmes
Canon Discussion: The Copper Beeches: sherlock60 (LJ) - "This week we’re having a look at The Copper Beeches. I’ve typed up a few thoughts to get the discussion going—please leave your own ideas in the comments!"
A Song of Ice and Fire
Untitled: asoiafuniversity (Tumblr) - "I'm curious if you've pondered the war between humanity and the Others. Assuming the 4 battles of TWOW you've outlined have concluded, the wall has inevitably fallen/lost effectiveness, and Jon Snow is back in his own body (albeit slightly more wolfish.). Care to present how it may all play out, from your military perspective?"
Untitled: many contributors (Tumblr) - "Assuming Tommen dies, exactly what happens in the fall out?"
Game of Thrones Economics: Why Doesn’t Westeros Have a Central Bank?: thestonedragon (Tumblr) - "The NW is primarily a military order charged with protecting the realm against existential threats in the North. They’ve been able to survive for as long as they have by remaining neutral and avoiding Southern affairs – a stance that cannot work alongside an expanded role as banker."
Untitled: warsofasoiaf (Tumblr) - ""How does Sandor return" - well, that implies that Sandor will return, doesn’t it?"
Untitled: nobodysuspectsthebutterfly (Tumblr) - "I’ve never thought Pycelle was giving moon tea to Margaery for herself."
Top Characters #16 Petyr Baelish: Ultima (blog) - "Petyr Baelish's family belonged to the lowest rank of Westerosi nobility. His great-grandfather had been a Braavosi mercenary who was in service to House Corbray. Eventually, the family was granted a small plot of land in the area known as the Fingers."
Star Trek
Star Trek, Vulcan, and the Universal Translator: radicalhufflepuff (Tumblr) - "So in translation there’s a common issue where a word in one language can link many disparate ideas under a single word that in some way unifies the different ideas as being somehow related."
Five Perfumes to Wear While Watching X: lunabee34 (DW) - "So I'm contributing Five Perfumes to Wear While Watching Star Trek. (I'm confining this to perfumes I have actually smelled rather than perfumes whose descriptions seem apt.)"
Was Spock a Utilitarian?: Spiros (blog) - "Some friends who know more about these things allege that the Mr. Spock character explicitly espouses utilitarianism on a few occasions in the original series and ensuing films."
Star Wars: Rogue One
What Happens When ‘Star Wars’ Is Just a War Film?: Graeme McMillan (blog) - "The hardcore fan base, then, is likely to be satisfied by the movie when it's released in 2016. But what about everyone else? Will Rogue One manage to be Star Wars-esque enough for them? Perhaps not."
Steven Universe
Shirt Club Analysis: jennypizzas (Tumblr) - "I know the title sounds silly because Shirt Club seems to be nothing more than a funny filler episode but after rewatching it a few times I’ve figured out a few things: why Buck was acting so cold, what actually made Mayor Dewey emotional, and why Steven’s art of his father was being exploited."
Supernatural
The end: cupidsbower (Tumblr) - "I’m beginning to think there is a small but real chance the impossible will happen in the finale of Supernatural s10.
Yeah, I’m talking about Destiel."
Untitled: dubiousculturalartifact (Tumblr) - "Oh no no no, this was supposed to be a funny moment, but that little comment of ‘Cas’ face though’ just made me take another look & IT STOPPED BEING FUNNY."
Stream of Consciousness, Episode 10.19: gaelicspirit (LJ) - "Oh, these boys. There's a song by Augustana called, "Either Way, I'll Break Your Heart Someday," and I'm pretty sure that is their ballad to us."
Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 19: The Werther Project: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
Teen Wolf
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - "If we wanna talk queerbaiting, we should talk about Stiles, not Sterek (and not even Derek)."
Untitled: cupidsbower (Tumblr) - "My love for Derek is eternal and also the only thing left about Teen Wolf that I care about."
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - "OK so about the whole "Scerek squicks me because they’re like brothers" thing"
Tintin
Revisiting old favorites - Adventures of Tintin (1991-1992): yuuago (DW) - "... Anyway. In some ways, the cartoon improves on the original comics. Well, I mean - the comics are great adventure stories, but they're pretty racist at times. The adaptation usually tries to minimize that."
Tolkien
Cross-Cultural Marriages Among the Race of Men: askmiddleearth (Tumblr) - "Keeping in mind that Tolkien wrote almost exclusively about ruling families, I don’t have any information specific to traders (though I’m sure that they married people from other cultures as well), but there are plenty of "noble" examples."
Tolkien Head-Canon: marta-bee (Tumblr) - "So on the one hand you have not many dwarf-women in the histories, at least not so the Gondorian scribe writing this passage would know, and (again as far as our historian knows) they don’t tend to go on long journeys."
On Tolkien and Anglo-Saxon Myth: lintamande (blog) - "However, there’s one topic about which I feel a bit uncomfortable: the potentially non-white Tolkien characters. As far as I know (and as a casual fan I may be wrong), the professor wanted to create an Anglo-Saxon myth. I really doubt he had in his mind an Asian Fingon or a black Luthien when writing about them. Is it a good idea to disregard the author’s envisioning for the sake of racial awareness?"
Songs that remind you of Middle Earth characters: multiple (forum) - "Is there a song that makes you think of a particular Middle-earth character when you hear it?"
Twin Peaks
The Twin Peaks Log: S.2 E.8: Romona Williams (blog) - "Welcome to our biweekly roundtable of Twin Peaks where we are working our way through every. Single. Episode. Some of us are regulars and some of us newbies, but none of our experiences are the same."
The Vampire Diaries
Vampire Diaries, Season 6, Episode 19: Because: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
LGBT Characters in The Vampire Diaries and The Originals: Sparky (blog) - "The latest season gave the viewers the most gay characters these shows have ever had at one time. The Vampire Diaries had Luke, while The Originals had Josh and Aidan. Maybe three gay characters isn’t exactly an immense number considering the sheer size of the casts on these shows, but it was still a peak in this universe’s representation of gay existence."
What Did You Eat Yesterday?
What Did You Eat Yesterday? by Fumi Yoshinaga (vols. 1-6): chomiji (DW) - "Yoshinaga, honored with multiple awards for her beautifully drawn alternate history Ooku: The Inner Chambers, seems to me to be using this series much the way Shiro uses his cooking: a less stressful challenge with which to unwind. The artwork is pretty (although nowhere as elaborate as Ooku's) and the events diverting (although neither as humorous as Not Love nor as poignant as Flower of Life or Antique Bakery), but for me, this series lacks a certain something."
X-Files
More thoughts on the season 2 abduction arc (X-Files): plaidadder (Tumblr) - "I probably have said this before…but I was just thinking this morning that it was really important for the show, or at least my attachment to it, that Mulder does not get to actually find Scully and bring her back himself."
X-Men
How to Fail at Coming Out Stories in Comicbooks: bisexual-books (Tumblr) - "On the one hand, I want to be loud and supportive, and to celebrate this wider diversity. But on the other hand, they do a really, really offensive crap job of it."
Iceman Already Kinda Sorta Tried to Come Out as Gay in the 1990s: Chris Lough (blog) - "Perhaps not because it’s astonishing or new or uncanny, but maybe because it represents the return of a plotline that cropped up in a little-remembered Almost Very Special Issue of Uncanny X-Men published in 1994, more than 20 years ago."
Knowledge Waits: The Possible Hints Over the Years That Iceman Is Gay: Brian Cronin (blog - image intensive) - "One of the interesting aspects of young Iceman coming out in the most recent issue of All-New X-Men (and from the sound of Brian Michael Bendis’ discussions of the topic, it sure sounds like adult Iceman will be catching up with him, as well) is the notion that Iceman being gay is something supported in past comics."
Younger/While We’re Young
Younger and While We’re Young: This is 40?: Faith Pennick (blog) - "Unlike Younger, which focuses on the fun and frivolity of a quadragenarian shaving 14 years off of her age, While We’re Young shows two 40-somethings living in the moment while staring down the end—being childless, mortality, Josh’s comical discovery that he has arthritis in the knee."
If you have meta to submit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
A Proposal: mostlyvalid (Tumblr) - "Sometimes, in fandom, we just want to write id-tastic fic that rolls around in tropes that might be viewed as problematic. But we don’t want to address the problematic side of things in this particular fanwork; we just want to roll around and wallow."
topic:fanfic, topic:warnings
Diversity in Comics: What About Disability?: chipreece (Tumblr) - "Almost nobody talks about the inclusion of characters with disabilities."
fandom:comics, topic:diversity, topic:disability
Untitled: greenbergsays (Tumblr) - "Two of my favorite topics, really, but one of my all time favorite things is the handling of interspecies relationships in fanfiction."
topic:relationships
Journalfen server status: not so robust: snacky (DW) - Information on the current status of Journalfen
topic:journalfen
Christopher Nolan Mad Me Hate Comic Book Movies: Tyler Coates (blog) - "I enjoy action movies just fine, and I’ve seen my fare share of comic book adaptations in recent years. But honestly, I’ve gotten really tired with the genre. The reason? They feel so much less fun than they used to be."
topic:comics, topic:movies, topic:adaptations
Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Importance of Comics: Abraham Riesman and Ta-Nehisi Coates (blog) - "But why are superheroes resonating so strongly? And are they worthy of the attention? These questions are important enough to compel Ta-Nehisi Coates to take a timeout from kicking off national conversations about race and politics, don his fanboy cape, and go in search of the answers."
topic:comics, fandom:comics
The Ebooks-Trees fic- and ebook-scraping business: Diane Duane (Tumblr) - "And lo and behold, there are four of my books (well, three really, they got A Wizard Abroad twice) still there. So now I get to DMCA them again."
topic:copyright, topic:scam
e-books-tree.com Update: anthfan (Tumblr) - "However, someone else has said that ebooks-tree has removed all the Ao3 user names and are changing the titles to make them more difficult to search/find your stories and prove that they’ve been stolen."
topic:fanfic, topic:copyright, topic:scam
Untitled: various anonymous folks (DW) - Discussion of having read rape fic as a kid.
topic:fanfic, warning:rape
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - "But for some reason, some very mysterious reason, only same gender relationships in fiction are expected to be slow-burning, exemplary, and exceptional. They can’t just happen, they need to "make sense", nobody has short or random romances, and it’s all very "partner for life in the long-term.""
topic:relationships
THIS NEEDS TO BE A MEME OKAY: rydra_wong (DW) - "All you scent/fandom geeks: what scent or selection of scents should one watch to wear your show of choice? Pick your olfactory playlist!"
topic:fandom, topic:perfume
Why do we mock teenage girls who love One Direction when Top Gear fans are just the same?: Elizabeth Minkel (blog) - "The online mockery of fans of Zayn Malik, who left One Direction the same day Jeremy Clarkson was fired, would never be levelled at grown-up sports or Top Gear fans."
topic:fandom, topic:sexism
How to praise writers and influence fics: icybluepenguin (Tumblr) - "But maybe readers don’t know what to say. Maybe you’re new to Tumblr, new to reading fan fiction, shy, or just not sure how to say what you want to say."
topic:feedback
How to Enjoy Fandom: kalloway (DW) - "There are three basic 'rules' to enjoying time spent in fandom and they're very simple"
topic:fandom
Untitled: marta-bee (Tumblr) - "In a long story there will be things that "displease" you. And in a world where people are coming at the same basic story from different positions, there will be bits that I don’t like."
topic:fanworks
Untitled: marta-bee (Tumblr) - "Reading this meta by someone who I didn’t end up agreeing with reminded me that we were starting with the same show and actually applying rather similar methodologies."
topic:meta
The Significance and Possibilities of DC Super Hero Girls: Janelle Asselin (blog) - "This is a big deal not just in terms of comics, but in terms of licensed products for kids. But is this kind of gendered initiative what we need? Or is it, as some have stated, "pandering"? Unsurprisingly, I have a lot of thoughts on this matter."
topic:merchandise, topic:sexism
On Privilege, Casting, and Loss: Squid, Inc. (blog) - "The subject of "loss" brings me closer to my actual point: a significant proportion of white male rage over changing the gender and race of superheroes can be connected to a sense of loss."
topic:diversity, topic:privilege
Sexualized Saturdays: Wait, Are You Saying I Accidentally Bestiality?: pantydragon (blog) - "Why does no one think of these human/non-human relationships as bestiality? In the context of non-human but sentient races, what defines bestiality, and does the concept even apply? Which people may we acceptably bang and why may we bang those people and not others?"
topic:sex, topic:sexuality
The Old Guy Action Comeback: I’m Getting Too Old for This Sh*t: Ryan Britt (blog) - "So, what’s the deal? Is there a bizarre cultural obsession with old guy comebacks?"
topic:age, topic:movies
Message Fiction: Politics in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Literature: The G (blog) - "And then there are, of course, questions of: (a) quality, i.e. "is this message being conveyed effectively"; and (b) alignment, i.e. "do I like or agree with the message conveyed." Unfortunately, readers often confuse (b) for (a)."
topic:sciencefiction, topic:fantasy, topic:politics
Why Minority Settings in RPGs Matter: Whitney Strix Beltran (blog) - "Most gamers unconsciously gravitate to the straight white male as our hero, our role model, and the baseline for play."
fandom:gaming, topic:diversity
Fandom inspires a mystic world of pop-culture tarot: Aja Romano (blog) - Image heavy. Discussion of tarot as it relates to fanart projects.
topic:fanworks
Lara Croft isn’t good enough - video games need more real women: Suzanne Samin (blog) - "To me, more realistic video game characters overwhelmingly benefit a group of gamers. That group is women."
fandom:gaming, topic:femalecharacter, topic:representation
Magical Mondays: Really, Do Not Sign That Contract: Lady Saika (blog) - "Although the idea of a contract in real life is ostensibly meant to protect both parties’ interests and hold both parties accountable, this is almost never the case in fiction. When a contract shows up, you know it’s bad news, and if it’s a magical contract, just, like, don’t even read it. Instead of reading it, run."
topic:magic
Specific Fandom
The 100
Untitled: dedalvs (Tumblr) - "Unless I’ve misunderstood the situation, I don’t see how they wouldn’t all speak English after 100 years."
fandom:the100, topic:language
Agents of SHIELD
Be White or Explode: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "Agents of SHIELD starts out as a black superhero story."
fandom:agentsofshield
Stealing Your Relics for Your Own Good: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "Second episode of Agents of SHIELD, just as racist as the first? Somewhat improbably, yes."
fandom:agentsofshield
The Americans
Pre-finale links:
jae (DW) - Collection of links to essays and articles written before the finale.
fandom:theamericans
Post-finale links galore!: jae (DW) - What the title says. Lots of links to articles and essays about the show.
fandom:theamericans
Ant-Man
Untitled: copperbadge (Tumblr) - "Well, the movie is the nexus of a lot of super problematic shit Marvel has pulled for decades, so there’s a lot to hate."
fandom:mcu, fandom:marvelcomics
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Untitled: captain-foulenough (Tumblr) - "I don’t usually do this, but I think that Age of Ultron requires a trigger warning for anyone who is struggling with fertility/infertility."
fandom:mcu, topic:infertility, topic:warnings
So I saw Age of Ultron last night: alasse-irena (Tumblr) - "…and it deserves a looong reaction post dissecting my thoughts on it. I have a lot of opinions, but this got long enough when I was only talking about Steve and Tony and Natasha, and not even touching on the plot, or the Maximoff twins or anything. It is also very rambling. There will be spoilers under the cut, so click no further unless you want them."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron: iamshadow (DW) - "On the whole, I loved it. I was worried it was going to be too grim, and it wasn't."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron Party Post!: endeni (LJ) - "So, this is the place where, during the critical gap between April 22 and the US release in May 1 (and possibly after, yay!), those of us who have seen the movie already get to squee about it without fear of spoiling anyone else."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron: selenak (DW) - "Non-spoilery version: I liked, though didn't love it the way i did the first movie."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron: schneefink (DW) - "It's pretty much exactly like Avengers, except on a larger scale. Entertaining, but only as long as I don't think about it. Actually I liked it less than Avengers even when watching it for the first time, because it had some wtf moments that interrupted the experience."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
’Avengers: Age of Ultron’ is bloated and untidy, but just entertaining enough: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "The opening act of Avengers: Age of Ultron gives fans exactly what they wanted after The Avengers in 2012: the whole team fighting together as a unit, then going home for a party at Avengers Tower."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015): marina (DW) - "Warning: although the first Avengers is probably still my favorite MCU movie, I didn't enjoy this one much."
fandom:mcu, warning:spoilers
Batgirl
Lest We Forget: Batgirl. Bat GIRL. Bats, Comics, and Girls: Marcy J. Cook (blog) - "What DC got wrong was the tone on a couple of covers. Look at how spot on the Catwoman cover is, or Aquaman’s or Superman’s faux wedding. Then look at Batgirl’s cover, and to a lesser degree Wonder Woman’s cover. The tonal difference is stark."
fandom:dccomics, topic:femalecharacter
Black Panther
Why The Black Panther Is Marvel’s Answer to Batman: Drupkins (blog) - "The highly anticipated film may finally alert the public to one fundamental truth about the Wakandan superhero. For all intents and purposes, the Black Panther is Marvel’s answer to Batman."
fandom:mcu, fandom:marvelcomics
Buffy
Untitled: fanccubus (Tumblr) - "Poor little Dawny. I know there are still people who hate her introduction to the show, but think of this: you’re thirteen. You don’t quite know exactly who you are, and you worry about being too fake, or being too real, or being too anything other than exactly average."
fandom:btvs
Untitled: muchbuffy (Tumblr) - "Buffy and Drusilla: Angel created Drusilla as a living-dead reminder of the corruption he’s capable of. A trophy, for the great accomplishment of twisting such a good soul into the dark creature she became.
And he wanted to do the same with Buffy."
fandom:btvs
Dusted 29: Hellmouse: Dusted (podcast) - "This week, Buffy returns home, the dead rise, and we finally arrive at Joyce The Human Being! It’s time for "Dead Man’s Party" (3.02)"
fandom:btvs
Dusted 27: Remedial Duct Tape: Dusted (podcast) - "This week, we begin season three with the just a little Sunnydale and a whole lot of Buffy in "Anne" (3.01)."
fandom:btvs
Untitled: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Honest question- do we know how Spike heard that Willow flayed someone alive?"
fandom:btvs
Just what did the gypsies curse Angel with, anyway?: tei-lj (LJ) - "Um yeah so I actually have finished S5 of Angel, but instead of writing about any of that for some reason I wrote about souls? Specifically, Angel’s soul vs. everyone else’s soul, and whether what the thing we have now seen him gain and lose several times even counts."
fandom:btvs
Untitled: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Unpopular opinion but, every creepy fuckery Edward Cullen does… Angel did it first."
fandom:btvs
Buffy Rewatch S3E16: apprenticebard (Tumblr) - "Willow goes on about how crazy Faith is, Buffy pretty much flinches when Faith touches her, and Giles won’t even ask for her help when the bronze has been taken over by vampires and it’s full of civilians. Yet, nobody apparently cares about what Anya has done in this episode alone?"
fandom:btvs
Captain America
Untitled: synecdochic and others (DW) - A long, detailed thread about back pay and taxes and such as it would affect Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.
fandom:mcu
Castle
Untitled: castleramblings (Tumblr) - "Do you think Castle's character has room to grow in the sharing with Beckett area?"
fandom:castle
Columbiana
Waiting for Alan Rickman: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "Except…somewhere, somehow, something goes horribly wrong. Cattaleya, the good guy (or in this case good gal), wreaks horrible vengeance on slimy evildoers just the way she’s supposed to…but somehow the prime evildoers, the guys we’re supposed to love to hate, are brutally blindsided not by our heroine, but rather by a series of viciously sodden subplots."
fandom:columbiana
Daredevil
more from 9 eps in…: laporcupina (Tumblr) - "Non-spoilery things I like about Daredevil beyond Matt Murdock’s voice."
fandom:daredevil
NOC Recaps Daredevil: AKA Law & Order Hell’s Kitchen: Eric S.B. (blog) - "I brought this up in my recap for "Into the Ring," but "Rabbit in a Snowstorm" is where we really get the Law & Order: Hell’s Kitchen portion of the show."
fandom:daredevil
Daredevil, Catholicism, and the Marvel Moral Universe: Leah Schnelbach (blog) - "The other thing that I love is how the show’s brutal world is informed by the particularly Catholic morality of its hero."
fandom:daredevil, topic:religion
Oh, My Pop Culture Devil of Hell’s Kitchen: Is Daredevil the Religious Hero We’ve Been Waiting For?: Lady Saika (blog) - "It goes without saying, then, that I tuned into Daredevil with some trepidation on the religion front. Matt Murdock is probably one of the most devoutly religious Catholic characters in comics (that I’m familiar with, at least). Would his faith make the jump to the screen?"
fandom:daredevil, topic:religion
Okay, Internet hive mind…: sholio (DW) - "In the episode in which Foggy and Karen have their "date" (1x06, I think), there's a part of that scene in which my interpretation seems to be 180 degrees off from the prevailing fandom interpretation, at least based on what I'm picking up from fic, which is pretty much 100% going with this other version. So I would like to see what you all think."
fandom:daredevil
Daredevil/Batman v Superman
Daredevil v Batman v Superman: Getting Angst Right in the Superhero Genre: Petra Halbur (blog) - "This begs the question, what did Daredevil do right and what is Batman v Superman doing (or rather predicted to do) wrong? In other words, when is angst compelling in a superhero story and when is it grating?"
fandom:daredevil, fandom:dccu, topic:superheroes
DC Comics
Doing the Krypton Crawl: Jaz Jacobi (blog) - "But Superman’s journey from Man of Tomorrow to lame old-timer represents a complicated trail, the character walking a razor’s edge between the ephemera of junk culture charm and the drive to make superhero stories—and likewise their creators and devotees—seem "mature.""
fandom:dccomics, topic:history
Doctor Who
I know what the Midnight entity was…: whatwecanfic (Tumblr) - "Ok so I had an epiphany the other night and I’m pretty much 100% certain I know what the mysterious creature in Midnight was."
fandom:doctorwho
Tim’s Take On: Episode 276(Doctor Who: World War Three commentary): Tim Drury (podcast) - "World War III almost breaks out but thankfully the Doctor was there to prevent it as my coverage of the 2005 series reaches Doctor Who: World War Three."
fandom:doctorwho
World War Three: Neil Parryman (blog) - Liveblogging of a watch of the episode in question with someone who hasn’t seen it before.
fandom:doctorwho
Should Doctor Who Abandon Continuity?: James Baldock (blog) - "Continuity never used to exist in Doctor Who (Terrance Dicks has said on more than one occasion that ‘History is what you can remember’). And then it did, and it’s impossible to really maintain it properly – but it still seems to matter, and as a result many fans are obsessive about seeing patterns in things that aren’t there."
fandom:doctorwho
The Randomizer: Paradise Towers: louisedennis (LJ) - "Paradise Towers is the first story that really has the stamp of Andrew Cartmel's style as script editor - a sort of angry whimsey with a tendency to ask the audience to join the dots themselves to fill in the backstory (though that is not so obvious here as it would become in later stories)."
fandom:doctorwho
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Pixelthreads: Dragon Age: Inquisition and the Politics of Dress: Megan Patterson (blog) - "And in the game of politics, what you wear and when is as important as with whom you choose to ally yourself. Dragon Age: Inquisition occasionally seems to understand this: there’s at least one dialogue with Vivienne where you discuss as much. But the game never really seems to understand how to implement it into an integral part of the gameplay."
fandom:dragonage
Ex Machina
Ex Machina (2015): starlady (DW) - " I think it was Kate Elliott on Twitter who made a comment about it last year that tipped me off, and I have to say, it's one of the best and most stylish SF movies I've seen in a while. I would highly recommend it to just about everybody."
fandom:exmachina
Sci-Fi Films Need More Big Ideas Like Ex Machina’s: Geeks Guide to the Galaxy (podcast) - "The new science fiction thriller Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland, is one of the year’s most intelligent and thought-provoking films, full of heady concepts like the Turing test and Mary’s Room."
fandom:exmachina
The Fast and the Furious
One Last Ride: Why Furious 7’s Ending Had Us All In Tears: Desiree Rodriguez (blog) - "One of my roommates, however, didn’t quite get it. "You cried over a Fast & Furious movie?" he asked, brows furrowed in honest confusion. What followed was a good ten to fifteen minutes of playful ribbing and jokes. All of which boiled down to one singular incredulous question on their part: why would you cry over a Fast & Furious movie?"
fandom:thefastandthefurious
Firefly
Point/Counterpoint: Does Firefly Still Matter?: Katharine Trendacosta and James Whitbrook (blog) - "Welcome to a new feature: Point/Counterpoint, where we debate, vehemently, angrily, over issues of extreme importance. Today: Does Firefly still matter?"
fandom:firefly
Forever
Forever, Season 1, Episode 21: The Night In Question: Sparky (blog) - Episode summary with some meta comments at the end.
fandom:forever, warning:spoilers
Game of Thrones
Good, Bad, and Ugly Parents of Game of Thrones: Nate Jones (blog) - "But for most lordly parents we've seen, caring about a dynasty isn't the same thing as caring about the actual people who make it up."
fandom:gameofthrones
Game of Thrones Discussion, S5E2: Boxed in: Laura Fletcher, Corrin Bennett-Kill, and Cheryl Collins (blog) - "Open the windows and join us for a discussion of "The House of Black and White" with three fans with different perspectives: Laura Fletcher, a casual fan of the television and book series; Corrin Bennett-Kill, a dedicated fan of the book and TV series (she has read all the books four times!); and Cheryl Collins, who does not read."
fandom:gameofthrones
Myth, History and Game of Thrones: fenzel (blog) - "The characters in Game of Thrones definitely map onto different mythological traditions and historical events, but it happens in various complex and interconnected ways."
fandom:gameofthrones
Boiled Leather Audio Hour Episode 38: Boiled Leather Audio Hour (podcast) - "BLAH is back with two, count ‘em, two topics! This go-round, Stefan & Sean tackle the new "Alayne" sample chapter from The Winds of Winter and the first two episodes of Game of Thrones Season Five."
fandom:gameof thrones, fandom:asoiaf
Tailgate, Little Bastard: Johnny (blog) - A large collection of links to reviews, interviews and meta about season 5
fandom:gameofthrones
"Game of Thrones" politics: War makes for strange bedfellows, indeed: Steven Attewell (blog) - "The central difficulty of feudal politics – whether we’re talking about Europe after the partition of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century and the rise of the modern nation-state in the 16th and 17th centuries, or Japanese history between the Genpei War in the 12th century and the end of the Sengoku Jidai – is that a system based on a liege lord distributing landed power to a military caste in return for their loyalty breaks down when fiefdoms become jealously-guarded inheritances instead of gifts that can be distributed and redistributed at will to keep vassals eager to gain favor and avoid wrath."
fandom:gameofthrones
Deconstructed: High Sparrow: Stefan (blog) - "We're officially in new territory with a whole host of storylines now. Sansa and Littlefinger, Jaime and Bronn, the whole northern storyline and soon enough the Watch as well - so far, the season proves that it can stand on its own, a feat many doubted it was capable of given the mixed track record it enjoys in those areas. But let's see for ourselves how things stand this week, shall we?"
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
High Sparrow 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, warning:spoilers
High Sparrow: Philip Sandifer (blog) - "But if you were to suggest a generalized pattern for a season, the third episode would be a point of drastic acceleration."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Game of Thrones producers explain changing Sansa’s storyline: James Hibberd (blog) - "Showrunners talk about that huge twist - that was very different from the books"
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Return to Westeros: "High Sparrow" Review: MadameAce (blog) - "So far I both love and hate this season. As Game of Thrones will be finishing up before A Song of Ice and Fire, it makes sense to me that the show would start deviating from the source material."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Game of Thrones Discussion, S5E3: What’s in a Name?: Laura Fletcher, Corrin Bennett-Kill, and Cheryl Collins (blog) - "Join us for a discussion of "High Sparrow" with three fans with different perspectives: Laura Fletcher, a casual fan of the television and book series; Corrin Bennett-Kill, a dedicated fan of the book and TV series (she has read all the books four times!); and Cheryl Collins, who does not read."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Game of Thrones, Season 5, Episode 3: High Sparrow: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta at the end.
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
Review: High Sparrow: ghostlovesinger (blog) - "That said, "High Sparrow" gave us relatively little to complain about and much to get excited for, weaving together quality performances and concluding on a vital and compelling cliffhanger."
fandom:gameofthrones, warning:spoilers
The Many Men of Brienne of Tarth: Nate Jones (blog) - "With no set of instructions to follow, the men of Westeros are forced to take Brienne largely on her terms — one of my favorite GOT litmus tests is to figure out which ones can see her for who she really is. Pod does, of course."
fandom:gameofthrones, topic:femalecharacter
Gintama
Untitled: notthepajamas (Tumblr) - The author lists points about Gintama canon, both factual details and calling out problematic points.
fandom:anime, fandom:manga
Good Night, and Good Luck
Good Night, and Good Luck: attack on McCarthyism simplifies but satisfies: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Evaluation of George Clooney’s film about Edward R. Murrow and Joseph McCarthy from a historian’s point of view.
topic:movies, topic:history
Gotham
The Ogre is Groot: Gotham’s "Under the Knife": Thom Dunn (blog) - "Leave it to Gotham, a show which has dreadfully mishandled all of its female characters, to build up towards a "climactic finale" about a misogynistic serial killer—and make the audience actually wish that his latest victim would die and go away for good."
fandom:gotham
Grey’s Anatomy
[Title redacted because it’s a spoiler]: Rachel Wong (blog) - "For weeks, the hashtag #WhereIsDerek trended on Twitter, aprompting fans to wonder if Derek was cheating on his wife."
fandom:greysanatomy, warning:spoilers
Grimm
Grimm Season Four, Episode Nineteen: Iron Hans: Renee (blog) - Episode summary with some meta commentary at the end.
fandom:grimm, warning:spoilers
Harry Potter
HP reading group session #2.4: drinkingcocoa (LJ) - "So I figured that after hours and hours of heavily prepped sessions, the kids could survive one round of listening to me simply lecture. I chose passages about the battle in the chamber between Harry and diary!Riddle, read them out, and paused periodically to point out details I found significant and explain what I think they mean."
fandom:harrypotter
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - The post answers arguments against racebending in Harry Potter fanworks.
fandom:harrypotter, topic:race
This ‘Harry Potter’ fan theory might explain why the Dursleys were the worst: Kelly Lawlor (blog) - "But now a fan theory that is blowing up on Reddit might prove that we were way too harsh on the Dursleys."
fandom:harrypotter
Harry Potter and Death: bounding-heart-68 (Tumblr) - "Harry does not take other’s lives. It’s what makes him a counter to Voldemort and is at the core of his characterization and the themes of the series."
fandom:harrypotter
House
Episode Discussion Post - 7x7 "A Pox On Our House": house_rewind (LJ) - Discussion and analysis of the episode in question. The meta is in the comments.
fandom:house
Episode Discussion Post - 7x8 "Small Sacrifices": house_rewind (LJ) - Discussion and analysis of the episode in question. The meta is in the comments.
fandom:house
Hugo Awards
why I don’t consider Mixon very praiseworthy: colorblue (DW) - "I've stated before that I think her report has done good, and I stand behind that. I've stated before that RH/WF/BS was abusive and needed to be stopped, that Mixon was one of the few that could've effectively done so, but that the way she did so also created an environment, and set terms of discourse, that made it more difficult to speak out against, to stop, other abusers."
topic:hugoawards
There Hugo again: Kate Paulk (blog) - "And why the people spreading lies about the nominees and about the Sad Puppy campaign (and the Rabid Puppy campaign) have no one to blame but themselves no matter how loudly they scream otherwise."
topic:hugoawards
Keeping Up With the Hugos, 4/20/15: John Scalzi (blog) - "I probably shouldn’t admit that I’m having a schadenfreudilicious time watching Larry Correia and Brad Torgersen now desperately try to put sunlight between themselves and that toxic bigot Vox Day, but I’m not going to lie: I am, and also, it’s not working for them at all, as there is a fairly obvious evidence trail to suggest there was hardly any sunlight between them until Day suddenly became inconvenient."
topic:hugoawards
Discussing Specific Changes to the Hugo Nomination Election: Bruce Schneier (blog) - "This is a continuation of an earlier thread (now closed) about the Hugo nomination process and how it might be modified. It is not a discussion of either 1) whether or not the nomination process should be changed, or 2) any potential changes in the rules about who is allowed to nominate. It is exclusively focused on voting systems and their relative merits, given what happened in the 2015 Hugo nomination process."
topic:hugoawards
Science Fiction’s White Boys’ Club Strikes Back: Jeet Heer (blog) - "Currently, the science fiction world is being torn asunder by a cultural war over diversity, with a hot battle going on over the Hugo Awards, the long-running and prestigious fan-selected awards given out every year at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon)."
topic:hugoawards
The Psychology of Hugo Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies: Maureen O’Danu (blog) - "I am not going to try to diagnose anyone involved in this issue, I am only going to discuss some broad psychological principles that apply."
topic:hugoawards
On crowdsourcing Hugo nominations: nwhyte (LJ) - "It's clear from the figures that of the five novels recommended by Brad Torgerson, only three were actually recommended by his readers."
topic:hugoawards
In Which Edmund Schubert Withdraws From the Hugos: John Scalzi (blog) - Most of the post is a letter from Edmund Schubert, posted at his request, explaining his withdrawal.
topic:hugoawards
Iron Man
"I Am Iron Man" or ‘Tony Stark is a beautiful butterfly’: nocovein (Tumblr) - "In the MCU Iron Man narrative; the suit is a chrysalis - from IM1 where he builds it to IM3 where he destroys it - literally and metaphorically."
fandom:mcu
iZombie
iZombie, Season 1, Episode 6: Virtual Reality Bites: Sparky (blog) - Episode summary with some meta comments at the end.
fandom:izombie, warning:spoilers
James Bond
Bond Girl: Re-Watching and Re-Evaluating Thunderball: Zina Hutton (blog) - "This is the fourth film in the Bond franchise and it’s based on Ian Fleming’s ninth novel, which, in turn, was based on a screenplay written by the trio of Fleming, Jack Whittingham, and Kevin McClory."
fandom:jamesbond
Joss Whedon
Untitled: actualmenacebuckybarnes (Tumblr) - "the more i watch joss whedon shows the more i see that he has two distinct female archetypes he likes to torture"
fandom:josswhedon, topic:femalecharacter, warning:spoilers
Justified
Justified Wrap-Up: The End: Cheryl (blog) - "After six seasons, Justified finally came to an end … was it a fitting end to this series?"
fandom:justified
Kingsman
Eggsy English: rendering dialect in fiction: coffeeinallcaps (Tumblr) - "Reading up on his dialect resulted in this crash course on alternative ways to render dialect in fiction and an overview of what I will be calling Eggsy English* that might be a useful reference for fic writing."
fandom:kingsman, topic:language
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: Geography Matters: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "This week’s lesson is titled "Geography Matters…" The gist of it is that certain environments breed certain types of people– culturally, psychologically, financially, historically, and otherwise. Aside from general settings, specific geographical monuments also have significance."
fandom:legendofzelda
A Little Chaos
A Little Chaos: leads historical accuracy down the garden path: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Analysis of a movie about the landscape architact who designed the gardens at Versailles from a historian’s perspective.
topic:movies, topic:history
Maggie
Review: Maggie Is an Imperfect but Enjoyable Zombie Drama: Dan Van Winkle (blog) - "Maggie, starring Abigail Breslin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Joely Richardson, is a movie that tries to take the zombie craze and boil it down to its most personal, human elements—to varying degrees of success. For a movie that tries so hard not to be a "zombie movie," Maggie as at its best when it embraces its natural sense of suspense."
fandom:maggie
Marvel Cinematic Universe
’Avengers: Age of Ultron’ PR: Slut-Shaming and Rape Jokes: Janelle Asselin (blog) - "Well, it’s the same for female characters, weirdly enough. People have feelings about how they are portrayed and what their characters are."
fandom:mcu, topic:sexism, warning:rape
Black Widow Gets Left Out of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Merch: Britt Hayes (blog) - "For a studio that’s been making some progress in the female-centric department, Disney is really screwing up when it comes to their merchandise, feeding into the outdated, wrong-headed way of thinking that little girls aren’t into superheroes or that little boys wouldn’t be interested in merchandise featuring a female superhero."
fandom:mcu, topic:merchandise
The overwhelming whiteness of superhero movies: Feliks Garcia (blog) - "or all the movies’ merits, however, it’s impossible to ignore the overwhelming white maleness of the Marvel Universe—and every other superhero movie, for that matter."
fandom:mcu, topic:diversity
Is The Avenger’s THOR an Illegal Alien?: Jake Lipman (blog) - "Though Thor is the God of Thunder, and a Prince of Asgard, he arrived in the US as a tourist, with no diplomatic mission or official capacity. And even though Odin sent him here to learn humility, he does not quality as a student."
fandom:mcu, topic:law
The Messengers
The Messangers, Season One, Episode Two: Strange Magic: Renee (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
fandom:themessengers, warning:spoilers
Meteor Prince
Stars, Soulmates, and Shoujo: Meteor Prince Volume 1: Angel Cruz (blog) - "Meteor Prince is a story of hyperbole and extremes, going from zero to 120 kilometers per hour as soon as the two protagonists crash into one another."
fandom:manga
Olympus
Olympus, Season 1, Episode 4: Minos: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
fandom:olympus, warning:spoilers
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time, Season 4, Episode 20: Lily: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
fandom:onceuponatime
The Originals
The Originals, Season Two, Episode Fifteen: When the Levee Breaks: Renee (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
fandom:theoriginals, warning:spoilers
Orphan Black
Orphan Black: "Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis" Review: porluciernagas (blog) - "Orphan Black continues to be delightfully complex this week, as we get more into the Castor clones’ background, motivations, and lives. But don’t worry: the writers haven’t forgotten our Leda clones, and there was a ton of new plot to digest. Having said that, this episode really needed to come with trigger warnings for rape, torture, and possibly epilepsy."
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers
Orphan Black, Season One, Episode Two: Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis: Renee (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta comments.
fandom:orphanblack, warning:spoilers
Outlander
Outlander Episode 11: The Devil’s Mark: Redheadedgirl (blog) - "Overall this episode reminded me why I couldn’t live in the past. Uppity women get burned at the stake. I’d have end up as burnt ends just for my liberal use of the word "fuck.""
fandom:outlander, warning:spoilers
Penny Dreadful
Untitled: thatyourefuse (DW) - "Five Perfumes To Wear While Watching Penny Dreadful"
fandom:pennydreadful, topic:perfume
The Returned
The Returned, Season 1, Episode 7: Rowan: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
fandom:thereturned, warning:spoilers
Rhodes of Africa
Rhodes of Africa: only slightly less offensive than the man himself: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Analysis of a 1936 biopic about Cecil Rhodes from the point of view of a historian.
topic:movies, topic:history, topic:racism
Richard III
Richard III: Laurence Olivier’s melodramatic baddie is seriously limp: Alex von Tunzelmann (blog) - Analysis of Olivier’s performance in Shakespeare’s play from a historian’s perspective.
fandom:shakespeare, topic:history, topic:movies
The Ridiculous Six
Unhappy Gilmore: Native American Actors and Activists Protest New Adam Sandler Project: Arturo R. Garcia (blog) - "If Adam Sandler thought his brand of "humor" would keep getting a pass in 2015, the past few days have surely disabused him of that notion."
fandom:theridiculoussix, topic:racism
Netflix Defends Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six After Native American Actors Walk Off Set in Protest of Horribly Offensive Script: Carolyn Cox (blog) - "Approximately a dozen Native American actors have walked off the set of Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six in protest of the film’s offensive depiction of Native women and elders and its misrepresentation of Apache culture."
fandom:theridiculoussix, topic:racism
Video Shows Producer on Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six Telling Native American Actors to Leave "If You Are Overly Sensitive": (video) - What the title says.
fandom:theridiculoussix, topic:racism
Insulted Native Americans walk off Adam Sandler’s ‘Ridiculous Six’ set: Feliks Garcia (blog) - "When you think "Adam Sandler" and "Western," you expect only the best, historically accurate, culturally sensitive comedy. Right? Unfortunately, since we don’t live in an alternate reality, where up is down, bad means good, and Adam Sandler is "smart comedy," that is not the case."
fandom:theridiculoussix, topic:racism
Salem
Salem: The Tensions Beneath the Accusations: aelarsen (blog) - "When I first started discussing Salem, I looked at the way the series misunderstood Salem as a place. I’ve also mentioned how Salem omits one of the key figures in the Witch Panic, Rev. Samuel Parris. After a lot of intervening posts, it’s time to tackle why those omissions are such a big deal."
fandom:salem, topic:history
Salem, Season 2, Episode 3: From Within: sparky (blog) - "I get that this show is trying to go for creepy & sexy – while last season it seemed to aim far more for grotesqueries, this season is aiming more for creepy & sexy than yucky."
fandom:salem, warning:spoilers
Shakespeare
Bending Shakespeare: Alex Brown (blog) - "And now, with the magic of the internet and several streaming services with extensive catalogues, I can combine my obsession with Shakespeare with my passion for bending."
fandom:shakespeare, topic:racebending, topic:gender, topic:queer, topic:representation
Sherlock Holmes
Canon Discussion: The Copper Beeches: sherlock60 (LJ) - "This week we’re having a look at The Copper Beeches. I’ve typed up a few thoughts to get the discussion going—please leave your own ideas in the comments!"
fandom:acdsherlock
A Song of Ice and Fire
Untitled: asoiafuniversity (Tumblr) - "I'm curious if you've pondered the war between humanity and the Others. Assuming the 4 battles of TWOW you've outlined have concluded, the wall has inevitably fallen/lost effectiveness, and Jon Snow is back in his own body (albeit slightly more wolfish.). Care to present how it may all play out, from your military perspective?"
fandom:asoiaf
Untitled: many contributors (Tumblr) - "Assuming Tommen dies, exactly what happens in the fall out?"
fandom:asoiaf
Game of Thrones Economics: Why Doesn’t Westeros Have a Central Bank?: thestonedragon (Tumblr) - "The NW is primarily a military order charged with protecting the realm against existential threats in the North. They’ve been able to survive for as long as they have by remaining neutral and avoiding Southern affairs – a stance that cannot work alongside an expanded role as banker."
fandom:asoiaf, fandom:gameofthrones
Untitled: warsofasoiaf (Tumblr) - ""How does Sandor return" - well, that implies that Sandor will return, doesn’t it?"
fandom:asoiaf
Untitled: nobodysuspectsthebutterfly (Tumblr) - "I’ve never thought Pycelle was giving moon tea to Margaery for herself."
fandom:asoiaf
Top Characters #16 Petyr Baelish: Ultima (blog) - "Petyr Baelish's family belonged to the lowest rank of Westerosi nobility. His great-grandfather had been a Braavosi mercenary who was in service to House Corbray. Eventually, the family was granted a small plot of land in the area known as the Fingers."
fandom:asoiaf
Star Trek
Star Trek, Vulcan, and the Universal Translator: radicalhufflepuff (Tumblr) - "So in translation there’s a common issue where a word in one language can link many disparate ideas under a single word that in some way unifies the different ideas as being somehow related."
fandom:startrek
Five Perfumes to Wear While Watching X: lunabee34 (DW) - "So I'm contributing Five Perfumes to Wear While Watching Star Trek. (I'm confining this to perfumes I have actually smelled rather than perfumes whose descriptions seem apt.)"
fandom:startrek, topic:perfume
Was Spock a Utilitarian?: Spiros (blog) - "Some friends who know more about these things allege that the Mr. Spock character explicitly espouses utilitarianism on a few occasions in the original series and ensuing films."
fandom:startrek
Star Wars: Rogue One
What Happens When ‘Star Wars’ Is Just a War Film?: Graeme McMillan (blog) - "The hardcore fan base, then, is likely to be satisfied by the movie when it's released in 2016. But what about everyone else? Will Rogue One manage to be Star Wars-esque enough for them? Perhaps not."
fandom:starwars
Steven Universe
Shirt Club Analysis: jennypizzas (Tumblr) - "I know the title sounds silly because Shirt Club seems to be nothing more than a funny filler episode but after rewatching it a few times I’ve figured out a few things: why Buck was acting so cold, what actually made Mayor Dewey emotional, and why Steven’s art of his father was being exploited."
fandom:stevenuniverse
Supernatural
The end: cupidsbower (Tumblr) - "I’m beginning to think there is a small but real chance the impossible will happen in the finale of Supernatural s10.
Yeah, I’m talking about Destiel."
fandom:supernatural
Untitled: dubiousculturalartifact (Tumblr) - "Oh no no no, this was supposed to be a funny moment, but that little comment of ‘Cas’ face though’ just made me take another look & IT STOPPED BEING FUNNY."
fandom:supernatural
Stream of Consciousness, Episode 10.19: gaelicspirit (LJ) - "Oh, these boys. There's a song by Augustana called, "Either Way, I'll Break Your Heart Someday," and I'm pretty sure that is their ballad to us."
fandom:supernatural
Supernatural, Season 10, Episode 19: The Werther Project: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap followed by some meta.
fandom:supernatural, warning:spoilers
Teen Wolf
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - "If we wanna talk queerbaiting, we should talk about Stiles, not Sterek (and not even Derek)."
fandom:teenwolf, topic:queerbaiting
Untitled: cupidsbower (Tumblr) - "My love for Derek is eternal and also the only thing left about Teen Wolf that I care about."
fandom:teenwolf
Untitled: solvola (Tumblr) - "OK so about the whole "Scerek squicks me because they’re like brothers" thing"
fandom:teenwolf, topic:shipping
Tintin
Revisiting old favorites - Adventures of Tintin (1991-1992): yuuago (DW) - "... Anyway. In some ways, the cartoon improves on the original comics. Well, I mean - the comics are great adventure stories, but they're pretty racist at times. The adaptation usually tries to minimize that."
fandom:tintin, topic:adaptations
Tolkien
Cross-Cultural Marriages Among the Race of Men: askmiddleearth (Tumblr) - "Keeping in mind that Tolkien wrote almost exclusively about ruling families, I don’t have any information specific to traders (though I’m sure that they married people from other cultures as well), but there are plenty of "noble" examples."
fandom:jrrtolkien
Tolkien Head-Canon: marta-bee (Tumblr) - "So on the one hand you have not many dwarf-women in the histories, at least not so the Gondorian scribe writing this passage would know, and (again as far as our historian knows) they don’t tend to go on long journeys."
fandom:jrrtolkien
On Tolkien and Anglo-Saxon Myth: lintamande (blog) - "However, there’s one topic about which I feel a bit uncomfortable: the potentially non-white Tolkien characters. As far as I know (and as a casual fan I may be wrong), the professor wanted to create an Anglo-Saxon myth. I really doubt he had in his mind an Asian Fingon or a black Luthien when writing about them. Is it a good idea to disregard the author’s envisioning for the sake of racial awareness?"
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:race
Songs that remind you of Middle Earth characters: multiple (forum) - "Is there a song that makes you think of a particular Middle-earth character when you hear it?"
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:music
Twin Peaks
The Twin Peaks Log: S.2 E.8: Romona Williams (blog) - "Welcome to our biweekly roundtable of Twin Peaks where we are working our way through every. Single. Episode. Some of us are regulars and some of us newbies, but none of our experiences are the same."
fandom:twinpeaks
The Vampire Diaries
Vampire Diaries, Season 6, Episode 19: Because: Sparky (blog) - Episode recap with some meta at the end.
fandom:thevampirediaries, warning:spoilers
The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
LGBT Characters in The Vampire Diaries and The Originals: Sparky (blog) - "The latest season gave the viewers the most gay characters these shows have ever had at one time. The Vampire Diaries had Luke, while The Originals had Josh and Aidan. Maybe three gay characters isn’t exactly an immense number considering the sheer size of the casts on these shows, but it was still a peak in this universe’s representation of gay existence."
fandom:thevampirediaries, fandom:theoriginals, topic:lgbt, warning:death
What Did You Eat Yesterday?
What Did You Eat Yesterday? by Fumi Yoshinaga (vols. 1-6): chomiji (DW) - "Yoshinaga, honored with multiple awards for her beautifully drawn alternate history Ooku: The Inner Chambers, seems to me to be using this series much the way Shiro uses his cooking: a less stressful challenge with which to unwind. The artwork is pretty (although nowhere as elaborate as Ooku's) and the events diverting (although neither as humorous as Not Love nor as poignant as Flower of Life or Antique Bakery), but for me, this series lacks a certain something."
fandom:manga
X-Files
More thoughts on the season 2 abduction arc (X-Files): plaidadder (Tumblr) - "I probably have said this before…but I was just thinking this morning that it was really important for the show, or at least my attachment to it, that Mulder does not get to actually find Scully and bring her back himself."
fandom:x-files
X-Men
How to Fail at Coming Out Stories in Comicbooks: bisexual-books (Tumblr) - "On the one hand, I want to be loud and supportive, and to celebrate this wider diversity. But on the other hand, they do a really, really offensive crap job of it."
fandom:x-men, fandom:marvelcomics, topic:lbgt
Iceman Already Kinda Sorta Tried to Come Out as Gay in the 1990s: Chris Lough (blog) - "Perhaps not because it’s astonishing or new or uncanny, but maybe because it represents the return of a plotline that cropped up in a little-remembered Almost Very Special Issue of Uncanny X-Men published in 1994, more than 20 years ago."
fandom:x-men, fandom:marvelcomics, topic:lgbt, topic:history
Knowledge Waits: The Possible Hints Over the Years That Iceman Is Gay: Brian Cronin (blog - image intensive) - "One of the interesting aspects of young Iceman coming out in the most recent issue of All-New X-Men (and from the sound of Brian Michael Bendis’ discussions of the topic, it sure sounds like adult Iceman will be catching up with him, as well) is the notion that Iceman being gay is something supported in past comics."
fandom:x-men, fandom:marvelcomics, topic:lgbt, topic:history
Younger/While We’re Young
Younger and While We’re Young: This is 40?: Faith Pennick (blog) - "Unlike Younger, which focuses on the fun and frivolity of a quadragenarian shaving 14 years off of her age, While We’re Young shows two 40-somethings living in the moment while staring down the end—being childless, mortality, Josh’s comical discovery that he has arthritis in the knee."
fandom:younger, fandom:whilewereyoung, topic:age
Tags:
- fandom:acdsherlock,
- fandom:agentsofshield,
- fandom:asoiaf,
- fandom:btvs,
- fandom:castle,
- fandom:columbiana,
- fandom:comics,
- fandom:daredevil,
- fandom:dccomics,
- fandom:dccu,
- fandom:doctorwho,
- fandom:dragonage,
- fandom:exmachina,
- fandom:firefly,
- fandom:forever,
- fandom:gameofthrones,
- fandom:gotham,
- fandom:greysanatomy,
- fandom:grimm,
- fandom:harrypotter,
- fandom:house,
- fandom:izombie,
- fandom:josswhedon,
- fandom:jrrtolkien,
- fandom:justified,
- fandom:kingsman,
- fandom:legendofzelda,
- fandom:maggie,
- fandom:manga,
- fandom:marvelcomics,
- fandom:mcu,
- fandom:olympus,
- fandom:onceuponatime,
- fandom:orphanblack,
- fandom:outlander,
- fandom:pennydreadful,
- fandom:salem,
- fandom:shakespeare,
- fandom:startrek,
- fandom:starwars,
- fandom:stevenuniverse,
- fandom:supernatural,
- fandom:teenwolf,
- fandom:the100,
- fandom:theamericans,
- fandom:thefastandthefurious,
- fandom:themessengers,
- fandom:theoriginals,
- fandom:thereturned,
- fandom:theridiculoussix,
- fandom:thevampirediaries,
- fandom:tintin,
- fandom:twinpeaks,
- fandom:whilewereyoung,
- fandom:x-files,
- fandom:x-men,
- fandom:younger,
- topic:adaptations,
- topic:age,
- topic:comics,
- topic:copyright,
- topic:disability,
- topic:diversity,
- topic:fandom,
- topic:fanfic,
- topic:fantasy,
- topic:fanworks,
- topic:feedback,
- topic:gaming,
- topic:gender,
- topic:history,
- topic:hugoawards,
- topic:infertility,
- topic:journalfen,
- topic:language,
- topic:law,
- topic:lgbt,
- topic:magic,
- topic:merchandise,
- topic:meta,
- topic:movies,
- topic:music,
- topic:perfume,
- topic:politics,
- topic:privilege,
- topic:queer,
- topic:queerbaiting,
- topic:race,
- topic:racebending,
- topic:relationship,
- topic:religion,
- topic:representation,
- topic:scam,
- topic:sciencefiction,
- topic:sex,
- topic:sexism,
- topic:sexuality,
- topic:superheroes,
- topic:warnings,
- warning:death,
- warning:rape,
- warning:spoilers
no subject
Date: 2015-05-02 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-03 12:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-07 09:00 am (UTC)Thanks for collecting and posting these and I feel kinda bad that a lot of the comments you get are corrections!
no subject
Date: 2015-05-07 08:03 pm (UTC)Thanks for the heads up!