| |
[Oct. 6th, 2008|04:23 pm] |
I have put my phone round the washing machine. It is no longer working. There is no internet in the new flat yet, so I'm pretty much only contactable during office hours, or via Rosie's mobile.
The flat is made of awesome and win. It is a fertile land, and we shall call it "ThisLand", and here we shall thrive and prosper.... |
|
|
| To Do |
[Sep. 30th, 2008|11:39 pm] |
I actually managed to get the first few things on this to do list done before I wrote the damn list, but I'm going to write it anyway because then it will have crossed out things on it and I will be happy.
( Read more... ) |
|
|
| <3 |
[Sep. 26th, 2008|03:38 pm] |
|
Flist I love you to pieces I really do. Thankyou. |
|
|
| feminist narrative agency; or, why I love to larp |
[Jul. 28th, 2008|11:56 am] |
Been having thinky thoughts about "Why I Love Larp". And a good chunk of it comes down to that whole 'women in the media' issue.
More and more frequently, I find myself getting cross when I watch... more or less anything... on the telly, or at the cinema, and when I read more or less any book I pick up of the shelf. Because of the women. Sometimes, it's down to characterisation, and stereotyping. Sometimes it's down to clunky writing. But largely... largely it comes down to agency.
(I keep coming back to Wicked, to the fact that having been a musicals geek all my life, that was the first time I ever came out of a show thinking that the women had had any proper agency beyond love interest plot-token. Musicals and operas, which we acted in as teenagers, which never had roles for someone like me, who was never going to be pretty and passive. Every year, when we get into the planning stages for my youth choir's summer show, I catch myself thinking here we go with the reinforcing negative gender stereotypes again.)
I get sick of it. Plots that I love, and characters that I love, and writing and effects that I love, and I come out of the reading or the watching feeling absolutely furiously angry and resentful because almost whatever it is, it's just added itself to that whole long list of things which don't let women act. Or worse, assume that women don't act.
Larp gives me narratives I can trust not to do that. Larp tells me stories about women who act.
( cut for FOIP, just in case ) That's the kind of story I want. We are villains and heroes and martyrs, see.
And the thing is, that works at maelstrom despite a setting which often assumes patriarchal control; despite attitudes of women need protecting; despite big dresses and high-romance. Despite the fact that often, we play to the stereotypes, because we enjoy it. This is the thing. Our agency, it doesn't take heroism or masculinity away from the men.
I trust larp to give me narratives that are not going to be implied or inherently sexist. Because I create those narratives myself. And that shows that it's possible. |
|
|
| Acting opportunity |
[Jul. 15th, 2008|02:05 pm] |
Anyone interested in being in Mort at the Edinburgh Fringe? One of the leads (Princess Keli) has dropped out at very short notice. I.e. about three days ago.
We are urgently seeking someone who is
1) Female, youngish, capable of realistically portraying a teenaged princess.
2) Available in Oxford a.s.a.p
3) Available in Edinburgh 25th July -> 25th August
4) Can act
5) Preferably can pay towards accomodation ~ £500 for the month. If you can't do this, still get in touch as the production may decide to cover cost of accomodation in order to y'know have a show.
Post here, or call RHYS 07825957161, email rhyslewisjones@gmail.com
OR
1) Male
2) Available in Oxford ASAP
3) Available in Edinburgh 25th July -> 25th August
4) Can act
5) Can pay accomodation, £500. This can't be negotiated for a male actor. |
|
|
| Doctor Who thinky thoughts |
[Jul. 7th, 2008|07:32 pm] |
I saw Dr Who. I had thinky thoughts about Dr Who.
( Cut for spoilers ) |
|
|
| |
[Jul. 1st, 2008|02:22 pm] |
I am procrastinating from my maelstrom related procrastination. I have reached new highs of procrastination.
Found this mael-quiz thingy saved on my hard-drive. I must have filled out before Carnival of Carnage. Think I didn't post it at the time cos I was intending to do it for a couple of other PCs, but hey. Figured I'd post it now for your entertainment. Those of you that are entertained by such things :P
( Read more... ) |
|
|
| General announcement |
[May. 24th, 2008|09:02 pm] |
The BBC Proms this year are doing a folk music day. This is one of several proms I will be going to this year, and this is a general invite to anyone who fancies coming along with me, but specifically people who wouldn't normally consider promming (and very specifically ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) chaosdeathfish).
It's on Sunday 20th July. (I haven't actually double checked that doesn't clash with anything important yet. Ho hum. There's two gigs, an afternoon and an evening one, starting at 3.30, probably want to queue from lunchtime, costs a fiver. Lemme know if you'd be up for it. |
|
|
| Organisation for Transformative Works |
[May. 23rd, 2008|11:45 am] |
I have written Regeneration fic, for the first OTW online con challenge, here.
You lot should go write fic for the OTW challenge, too. Or, go read and comment! Because the OTW will work best if it's everybody's sandbox, if it's community, if it's somewhere were we all go to write and read and post fic, to talk and to think, to meet new fans and new fandoms.
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) otw_onlinecon. You don't have to be a member. You don't have to be a fandom activist. Go play! |
|
|
| a slightly self-indulgent thought |
[Apr. 10th, 2008|09:22 pm] |
I wrote 1602 fic for yuletide which I was very pleased with, this christmas.
Seeing as I haven't actually linked to it from my journal before, have a linky now
One of the sections involved Wolverine being tortured by the mediaeval catholic church, for the heresy of immortality.
Today, looking for something entirely different, I found the Donne poem which must have the unconscious inspiration for that.
Thou hast made me, and shall Thy work decay?
Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste;
I run to death, and death meets me as fast,
And all my pleasures are like yesterday.
I dare not move my dim eyes any way,
Despair behind, and death before doth cast
Such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste
By sin in it, which it towards hell doth weigh.
Only Thou art above, and when towards Thee
By Thy leave I can look, I rise again;
But our old subtle foe so tempteth me
That not one hour myself I can sustain.
Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art,
And Thou like adamanto draw mine iron heart.
Hadn't even noticed I was alluding to Donne when I wrote the fic, but I'm sure the poem was bubbling away at the back of my brain. It's from the Divine Sonnets, which I wrote one of my finals essays on. Some of it seems to have stuck, deep in the part of my brain which writes fanfic. This makes me absurdly happy. |
|
|
| |
[Feb. 11th, 2008|09:27 pm] |
I watched a part of the baftas last night. Not for any particular reason, it was just on.
Then today, looking back on it, was struck by a sudden noticing, not for the first time in recent months, of neurotypical prejudices and how rubbish our society is with dealing with neurodiversity. In this case, specifically dyslexia.
Orlando Bloom's dyslexic. He was presenting the award for special effects, and Dear Jonathan Ross made some terrible scripted pun which revolved around Orlando mistaking CGI (as in computer generated image) for TGI Friday's (as in the crappy diner chain). And yeah, it was just a terrible pun, along the lines of the ones they make presenters make all the time, and I probably wouldn't have noticed it, if it wasn't for the fact that Orlando Bloom was stumbling over his words really quite badly - and I suddenly registered he was struggling to read the autocue. Those things are moving, flickering lines of text, white on black; more or less the worst possible format for a dyslexic to read from. So yeah, not only did they actively take the mick out of his phonetical difficulties, but they also clearly didn't bother making necessary adjustments for him.
It's not sharia law. It's not the human rights crisis in Burma. But I noticed. It made me uncomfortable. That is all. |
|
|
| A belated birthday fic for oxfordgirl |
[Jan. 15th, 2008|05:43 pm] |
Who I realise will probably not see this until after Albion at this rate...
( Strange Meeting ) |
|
|
| |
[Nov. 30th, 2007|10:55 pm] |
Ahahaha
Today I have:
Done my end of term show.
Won nanowrimo.
Won in the sense of I wrote more than 50K. Not in the sense that what I ended up with is (yet) a remotely finished or coherent story. But still. |
|
|
| Hmmmm. |
[Oct. 20th, 2007|12:47 am] |
So, I'm wondering, vaguely, about the yuletide race/anti-semitism meta.
I don't feel excluded by yuletide. I don't associate the yuletide with christianity. Partly, it's the use of 'yule', not 'christmas', which generally makes me happy. Partly because it's a fandom-thing. Partly because my ethnic identity is complicated, and has always included English-christmas as a secular midwinter festival.
This afternoon, I was ready to dismiss the whole thing as being really rather petty. I mean, I know pagans and hindus and jews and atheists who write for yuletide quite happily. Wouldn't swear that I could name you a proper religious Christian that I know participates in yuletide. yuletide is not descriminating against anyone. It's not forcing anyone to post on a saturday, it's not forcing anyone to write or think about baby jesus, it's generally a good-will mid-winter fic exchange, and I love it to pieces.
See, I don't feel excluded. Because midwinter-giving is part of my (complex) ethnic identity. Because I am (badly) culturally bilingual.
But then I started thinking.
At first I wondered if it was an American thing. Mebbe, if there's more anti-semitism over there, then people feel more like they are being descriminated against by the little things.
Except, actually, there's really quite a lot of anti-semitism over here. The blood libel comes up over and over again. Just when I think I must be making it up and that no one could possibly actually be that damn ignorant, I hear it again. Most recently, over the summer, from kids at work. And they must be getting the imagery from somewhere.
I came to the realisation that I couldn't actually keep shabbat and the holy days in this culture if I wanted to, even if I was damn well trying. Which I'm not, because my religious identity doesn't work like that. But if it did... I'd have to give up to much. It's too high a price for me. Apart from anything else, I'd be descriminated against in my chosen career, if I tried to keep shabbat.
Oxford term-dates. Yom-Kippur is in fresher's week every single year. Any even remotely devout Jewish fresher is going to be missing out on a whole chunk of the student experience. Missing Fresher's week can really set you back some, in terms of being accepted and fitting in. And me? I'm secular enough to fast my way through fresher's cocktails without being offended.
(And yeah, Maelstrom goes right over the Easter weekend. Being actively religious in general is descriminated against in this culture, I suspect.)
And I just... it vaguely worried me that my instinct, before I thought about it, even being a part of the minority group myself, was stop making a fuss over nothing.
Each individual moment is nothing. It's only when we add them all together into a cultural identity, that it gets worrying.
Don't get me wrong. None of this is a comment on yuletide, which I love with all my heart, which is such a big important part of my fandom identity and life. In my (pagan-jewish) opinion, yuletide is not excluding anyone. yuletide is a magical, wonderful thing, and I really wish that the awesome people who run it weren't having to have their experience dampened by wank.
It's just... a sign of the culture we live in, and the culture we live in is (secular)christian centric, and we need to be able to think about the wider implications of that, without wrecking the parts of the secular-christian culture that we like. And, please, oh please, without resorting to racist name-calling. |
|
|
| oxfordgirl made me do it! |
[Sep. 21st, 2007|01:33 am] |
So, because I am close to all drabbled out post maelstrom, and because I am insane... have another round of the Story Game.
Pick three words, and I'll write a drabble (short story, novelette, haiku etc) about your character and mine. First come, first served, each word to be used only once. Truth and accuracy not guarunteed. This is mostly maelstrom, but if you wanna try for something with one of my other PCs feel free.
( The List ) |
|
|
| Random Things |
[Sep. 3rd, 2007|06:00 pm] |
1) Fucking tube strike. Bastards.
2)( cut for religion )
Things are good. That is all. |
|
|
| I like this meme |
[Aug. 30th, 2007|02:23 pm] |
"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment here on my LJ.
I don’t yet know what that gift will be, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making a similar agreement on your blog." |
|
|
