As I mentioned in this week's Fangirl Friday over on When Sally Met Sally, I've been having trouble getting to the heart of CBS' new comedy for the pilot season, 2 Broke Girls.
I've watched 4 of about 10 episodes thus far (which may well explain the lack of insight...lol) but I just cannot make my mind up about it. One minute it has me actually laughing out loud ("You took money from a homeless guy??") and the next thing you know, a string of bad lesbian jokes just happen. But then Max calls Caroline the Relationship Ghost, which is hilarious. See what I mean? Arrrgh!!
So I'm going to see how it goes and obviously watch a bit more before I make up my mind completely about it, though I am normally predisposed to dislike any show which feels it needs to use a laughtrack. Never mind.
Anyway: this week's Fangirl Friday is up, and I've got all sorts of strong opinions about New Girl and Suburgatory, which is exciting. What are you waiting for? No, really. Go! ;)
Saturday 26 November 2011
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Shipping Will Be The Death Of My Work Ethic
I used to write a fair bit of fanfiction - much of which didn't make it to the interwebs due to a failure to be any good - and though I've had to put it on the backburner for a while, I still love to trawl the archives of fanfiction.net, LiveJournal and Twice Bitten (a lovely fanfiction archive specifically for cancelled Canadian show Blood Ties) to get my escapism fix.
I like most things really, so long as it's not PWP or too fluffy, but recently I've taken to reading shippers like some sort of lovestruck teenager, and the only explanation I currently have is that there are so many awesome couples being shipped out there at the moment that it's difficult not to get all swept up and swoony about them. I used to read general fics; now I'm a complete shipster. Someone please shoot me before I start waxing lyrical about Lost Girl's Doccubus, Once Upon a Time's Regina/Emma (for all the ihateyouiloveyouifancyyouKISSME! scenes), Rizzoli & Isles' Rizzles, Legend of the Seeker's Kahlan/Cara and The Secret Circle's Cassie/Faye, because I could literally be here all evening - and all I would do is talk you to a very femslash-y, often subtexty death. I love it so much that I even ship Katherine/Caroline though I don't watch The Vampire Diaries - it was basically a case of 'ooooh, they are somewhat attractive, are both vampires and a little badass. Why not?!'
The only problem with ship/femslash fics - and this is a big problem - is the sex scenes. I don't know why, but I've always been funny about how sex scenes are written, mainly because most of what you see on TV, for example the adpsjsglkasjghOMFG factor of Doccubus as of LG 2.06, is impossible to translate into language hot enough, unless said language was actually sizzling. It just loses something on translation, and is not helped by fanfic authors either a) getting a little too creative when describing various, um, parts (thus causing unintended hilarity) or b) just getting it WRONG.
You know what's sometimes a little sexier than writing about everything that happens in the bedroom? Writing about the events that lead up to it, creating a bit of reader tension, and letting your characters go into the bedroom - without you. A fair amount of fanfiction is, arguably, based on the escapist fantasies of its fans (not always in a sex-type way, of course), but the key to good fic writing in this regard is knowing how much flesh to flash. There's nothing that kills the magic of a romantic moment more than a poorly chosen word; you can have that one for free...
I like most things really, so long as it's not PWP or too fluffy, but recently I've taken to reading shippers like some sort of lovestruck teenager, and the only explanation I currently have is that there are so many awesome couples being shipped out there at the moment that it's difficult not to get all swept up and swoony about them. I used to read general fics; now I'm a complete shipster. Someone please shoot me before I start waxing lyrical about Lost Girl's Doccubus, Once Upon a Time's Regina/Emma (for all the ihateyouiloveyouifancyyouKISSME! scenes), Rizzoli & Isles' Rizzles, Legend of the Seeker's Kahlan/Cara and The Secret Circle's Cassie/Faye, because I could literally be here all evening - and all I would do is talk you to a very femslash-y, often subtexty death. I love it so much that I even ship Katherine/Caroline though I don't watch The Vampire Diaries - it was basically a case of 'ooooh, they are somewhat attractive, are both vampires and a little badass. Why not?!'
The only problem with ship/femslash fics - and this is a big problem - is the sex scenes. I don't know why, but I've always been funny about how sex scenes are written, mainly because most of what you see on TV, for example the adpsjsglkasjghOMFG factor of Doccubus as of LG 2.06, is impossible to translate into language hot enough, unless said language was actually sizzling. It just loses something on translation, and is not helped by fanfic authors either a) getting a little too creative when describing various, um, parts (thus causing unintended hilarity) or b) just getting it WRONG.
You know what's sometimes a little sexier than writing about everything that happens in the bedroom? Writing about the events that lead up to it, creating a bit of reader tension, and letting your characters go into the bedroom - without you. A fair amount of fanfiction is, arguably, based on the escapist fantasies of its fans (not always in a sex-type way, of course), but the key to good fic writing in this regard is knowing how much flesh to flash. There's nothing that kills the magic of a romantic moment more than a poorly chosen word; you can have that one for free...
Saturday 12 November 2011
On London
I wasn't looking forward to coming to London - or, as I usually spell it oop North, Laaaaarndan - this weekend. I'm not here for sightseeing or anything remotely exciting; I am, in fact, currently holed up in my lovely hotel room at Charing Cross waiting for my wife's conference thingy at King's College to end, but just a few minutes on The Strand on a bustling Friday night has infected me with what can only be described as 'Giddy Londonitis'.
I didn't expect this to happen, and perhaps I am somewhat to blame for not obtaining the correct vaccinations against this highly infectious pathogen, but...well, I actually love it. Yes, really! It's busy, there are cars and traffic and elongated vowels everywhere, but there's a strange buzz of activity constantly surrounding you that's kind of addictive. It's like being in the centre of a hive, and probably has something to do with an excess of pheromones or something, and I can't wait to come back. I've already planned what we'll do next time, and we'll likely stay in the same hotel (website here). It's a place filled with history, lavish buildings, a wealth of people from pretty much anywhere and all in one place.
I love it. Bring on the tourist weekend!
I didn't expect this to happen, and perhaps I am somewhat to blame for not obtaining the correct vaccinations against this highly infectious pathogen, but...well, I actually love it. Yes, really! It's busy, there are cars and traffic and elongated vowels everywhere, but there's a strange buzz of activity constantly surrounding you that's kind of addictive. It's like being in the centre of a hive, and probably has something to do with an excess of pheromones or something, and I can't wait to come back. I've already planned what we'll do next time, and we'll likely stay in the same hotel (website here). It's a place filled with history, lavish buildings, a wealth of people from pretty much anywhere and all in one place.
I love it. Bring on the tourist weekend!
Saturday 5 November 2011
The Keyboard War
There have been a couple of very interesting, informative articles recently with regards the abuse that female bloggers/journalists receive at the hands of misogynistic trolls; some of the experiences described I've seen first hand, as it unfolds on Twitter, whereas others are even more nefarious and disgusting.
In Laurie Penny's fantastic article for The Independent, A woman's opinion is the mini-skirt of the internet, she gives a few examples of the worst abuse she has received, and all of it is truly horrendous. Likewise, other writers - from those with similar political leanings as Penny to even a Conservative, Catholic blogger - detailed the various abusive emails, Tweets and comments they had received in an article penned by Helen Lewis-Hasterley: "You should have your tongue ripped out": the reality of sexist abuse online.
All of this got me thinking about the nature of trolls and anonymity on the wonderful, open space that is the internet. How do you go about policing something which, by its very nature, is infinitesimally vast and, largely, uncensored? Should we even be thinking about policing it?
It's a difficult question. As the above writers have reiterated in their offerings, there is a fine line between freedom of speech and hate speech and, whilst misogynistic abuse is among the worst on the net, the problem extends to far greater reaches than that, and the root of the problem lies in the lack of accountability for one's actions. Hiding behind a keyboard allows a person to evade all responsibility for their actions - they don't even have to watch the aftermath, if they don't want to - and they know that there is no way they can be legally or physically held accountable for the upset and distress they cause. It's an endemic problem which seems hard-wired into the web; wherever there's a comments section, there'll be trolls.
Where does this leave us? We're embroiled in the Great Keyboard War, where those from opposing factions battle through paragraphs and language, finally free to speak their minds and intimidate others as much as they like. Defending a point of view, or piece of writing from a troll is akin to pissing in the wind; where one troll bellows, more generally follow. So what can we do? Ignore them, and hope they go away, or hammer our keyboards with words of integrity and support until both sides are exhausted? Neither one is an ideal response but, in my opinion, the less attention you give to someone, the less they bother you. Whilst none of the abusers of the internet are forced to watch the aftermath, the reason they do what they do is to bully and upset people - thus, they want to provoke a response, in the same way that someone who came up and screamed abuse in your face in the street would want a response. The important thing to remember is, as blogger Dawn Foster so succinctly puts it, that 'Nobody's entitled to a reply, contrary to what the trolls may think'. Indeed.
Edit: Ironically, not long after posting this I've found a fantastic blog on the subject by Cath Elliott via @Glinner- fascinating and horrible, please do go and check it out.
In Laurie Penny's fantastic article for The Independent, A woman's opinion is the mini-skirt of the internet, she gives a few examples of the worst abuse she has received, and all of it is truly horrendous. Likewise, other writers - from those with similar political leanings as Penny to even a Conservative, Catholic blogger - detailed the various abusive emails, Tweets and comments they had received in an article penned by Helen Lewis-Hasterley: "You should have your tongue ripped out": the reality of sexist abuse online.
All of this got me thinking about the nature of trolls and anonymity on the wonderful, open space that is the internet. How do you go about policing something which, by its very nature, is infinitesimally vast and, largely, uncensored? Should we even be thinking about policing it?
It's a difficult question. As the above writers have reiterated in their offerings, there is a fine line between freedom of speech and hate speech and, whilst misogynistic abuse is among the worst on the net, the problem extends to far greater reaches than that, and the root of the problem lies in the lack of accountability for one's actions. Hiding behind a keyboard allows a person to evade all responsibility for their actions - they don't even have to watch the aftermath, if they don't want to - and they know that there is no way they can be legally or physically held accountable for the upset and distress they cause. It's an endemic problem which seems hard-wired into the web; wherever there's a comments section, there'll be trolls.
Where does this leave us? We're embroiled in the Great Keyboard War, where those from opposing factions battle through paragraphs and language, finally free to speak their minds and intimidate others as much as they like. Defending a point of view, or piece of writing from a troll is akin to pissing in the wind; where one troll bellows, more generally follow. So what can we do? Ignore them, and hope they go away, or hammer our keyboards with words of integrity and support until both sides are exhausted? Neither one is an ideal response but, in my opinion, the less attention you give to someone, the less they bother you. Whilst none of the abusers of the internet are forced to watch the aftermath, the reason they do what they do is to bully and upset people - thus, they want to provoke a response, in the same way that someone who came up and screamed abuse in your face in the street would want a response. The important thing to remember is, as blogger Dawn Foster so succinctly puts it, that 'Nobody's entitled to a reply, contrary to what the trolls may think'. Indeed.
Edit: Ironically, not long after posting this I've found a fantastic blog on the subject by Cath Elliott via @Glinner- fascinating and horrible, please do go and check it out.
Friday 4 November 2011
Fangirl Friday
I'm so psyched right now, I'm not quite sure how to wipe the smile off my face. Not only is it the end of the working week, but it's the start of a new venture - I'm blogging about TV for the marvellous new website When Sally Met Sally, in a weekly feature called Fangirl Friday (which you'll remember from the last post!). Please do check it out and let me know what you think about it, and while you're there make sure you check out the other fab sections too :)
It might seem silly, but to actually get hosted on a site and getting to write about something you love is just an amazing thing to me. I've blogged, Tweeted and Facebooked for years, following bloggers and writers I admire, and now to be able to say 'hey, I'm a writer too!' sounds narcissistic but feels awesome.
In other news, my NaNoWriMo project is flailing like a Priest in a brothel, but at least I've got this weekend to catch up. I'm not looking at WriteChain until I have tissues handy to mop up the tears of guilt...
It might seem silly, but to actually get hosted on a site and getting to write about something you love is just an amazing thing to me. I've blogged, Tweeted and Facebooked for years, following bloggers and writers I admire, and now to be able to say 'hey, I'm a writer too!' sounds narcissistic but feels awesome.
In other news, my NaNoWriMo project is flailing like a Priest in a brothel, but at least I've got this weekend to catch up. I'm not looking at WriteChain until I have tissues handy to mop up the tears of guilt...
Wednesday 2 November 2011
UK Radio - A Rather Blokey Affair
Have you ever noticed how few and far between female presenters are on UK radio? A quick cursory glance at the presenter list of many of the country’s best-loved, widely heard radio stations shows a stark and saddening truth that, in many cases, male presenters represent far more than half of the solo shows – especially during prime-time radio hours, like the morning shows and drive-time.
So why is this? For some reason radio has always been a male dominated field, and it’s not just me that thinks so – new organisation Sound Women, which has only come into fruition in the past week or so, holds a roster of female presenters such as DJ Annie Mac, Lauren Laverne, Sarah Montague, Annie Nightingale and Zoe Ball to name but a few, all of whom are supporting the notion that women’s interest are largely ignored.
To appease the rampant anti-feminists: I am not, I repeat, not in favour of positive discrimination. If a woman is doing a shitty job of something I would not expect her to be kept on, exactly how I would expect a man to be treated also. With the entertainment industry, however, I firmly believe that our presenters, TV characters etc should be representative of their audience – to sway the balance too far one way or the other creates a skewed view of things, and whilst I’m not suggesting there be every type of person represented (which would be impossible, unless you were Robin Williams), representing men and women should be a fairly simple task. A radio station’s presenters should reflect their listeners, if only in the loosest sense of the word, and stop treating female presenters like strange oddities that can barely be trusted as the man’s sidekick (so many breakfast shows use this tiring trick that it makes me nauseous), never mind left to do a show themselves. Women in radio are not given the chance to excel on their own.
So why is this? For some reason radio has always been a male dominated field, and it’s not just me that thinks so – new organisation Sound Women, which has only come into fruition in the past week or so, holds a roster of female presenters such as DJ Annie Mac, Lauren Laverne, Sarah Montague, Annie Nightingale and Zoe Ball to name but a few, all of whom are supporting the notion that women’s interest are largely ignored.
To appease the rampant anti-feminists: I am not, I repeat, not in favour of positive discrimination. If a woman is doing a shitty job of something I would not expect her to be kept on, exactly how I would expect a man to be treated also. With the entertainment industry, however, I firmly believe that our presenters, TV characters etc should be representative of their audience – to sway the balance too far one way or the other creates a skewed view of things, and whilst I’m not suggesting there be every type of person represented (which would be impossible, unless you were Robin Williams), representing men and women should be a fairly simple task. A radio station’s presenters should reflect their listeners, if only in the loosest sense of the word, and stop treating female presenters like strange oddities that can barely be trusted as the man’s sidekick (so many breakfast shows use this tiring trick that it makes me nauseous), never mind left to do a show themselves. Women in radio are not given the chance to excel on their own.
Tuesday 1 November 2011
Decisions, Decisions
Okay, so I really fancy having a go at writing for a website, all regular-like, and the excellent up-and-coming gay gal website When Sally Met Sally is looking for writers. So far, so fabulous - but what on earth am I going to write about?
There are so many things I'm interested in that it's difficult to specify just one thing - I love music, gaming, TV etc, but I can't help but worry if these kind of things have been done before. I mean, I could do a weekly article on new game releases or something, possibly doing reviews etc, but I don't really have the disposable income to buy oodles of new games when they come out, which is kind of a pre-requisite for reviewing them...
Then there's TV. I love TV with all the energy the fangirl inside me can muster. Maybe something like 'Fangirl Fridays', a review of the week's happenings in TV? That sounds alright, actually. I think I just answered my own question, which means I'll be watching even more TV from now on. Good times!
In other news, today is the start of NaNoWriMo, and I made the split second decision at approximately 7.15am this morning (after being in work a mere 15 minutes) to join in again this year - if you wanna be writing buddies, feel free to add me: madascheese :). I'm a veteran of the 'joining in and trying' club, having tried since 2008, but I have never won it. Not even once. Embarrassing. I'm not going to bother to vow that this year will be different, but I like to think I've got an ace up my sleeve with the wondrous magic that is WriteChain, a marvellous little iPhone app that encourages you to write a set number of words each day and not to break the chain. I don't think anything happens if you do break the chain, though I think the threat the app booting to show a sad face might make me feel guilty enough to not do it...
There are so many things I'm interested in that it's difficult to specify just one thing - I love music, gaming, TV etc, but I can't help but worry if these kind of things have been done before. I mean, I could do a weekly article on new game releases or something, possibly doing reviews etc, but I don't really have the disposable income to buy oodles of new games when they come out, which is kind of a pre-requisite for reviewing them...
Then there's TV. I love TV with all the energy the fangirl inside me can muster. Maybe something like 'Fangirl Fridays', a review of the week's happenings in TV? That sounds alright, actually. I think I just answered my own question, which means I'll be watching even more TV from now on. Good times!
In other news, today is the start of NaNoWriMo, and I made the split second decision at approximately 7.15am this morning (after being in work a mere 15 minutes) to join in again this year - if you wanna be writing buddies, feel free to add me: madascheese :). I'm a veteran of the 'joining in and trying' club, having tried since 2008, but I have never won it. Not even once. Embarrassing. I'm not going to bother to vow that this year will be different, but I like to think I've got an ace up my sleeve with the wondrous magic that is WriteChain, a marvellous little iPhone app that encourages you to write a set number of words each day and not to break the chain. I don't think anything happens if you do break the chain, though I think the threat the app booting to show a sad face might make me feel guilty enough to not do it...
The Darker Side of Fabulous
So I downloaded Ceremonials last night, the album from Florence + the Machine that I've been waiting for since, well, 2009 and my goodness, it is full of marvellousness and general awesome.
There's something quite epic, somewhat melodramatic and more than a little shadowy behind most of the songs on the album. It's a really solid, enjoyable affair, and Florence's ethereal vocals were made to be part of a harp/bass/choral ensemble.
Listening to this album is like having your heart shattered into pieces, reassembled, then exploding with joy, all in a breathless, dark night in the woods full of creaking trees and rustling leaves. Nothing short of fantastic; I love it.
There's something quite epic, somewhat melodramatic and more than a little shadowy behind most of the songs on the album. It's a really solid, enjoyable affair, and Florence's ethereal vocals were made to be part of a harp/bass/choral ensemble.
Listening to this album is like having your heart shattered into pieces, reassembled, then exploding with joy, all in a breathless, dark night in the woods full of creaking trees and rustling leaves. Nothing short of fantastic; I love it.
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