gothicsparrow

The most recent episode of Dance Academy has me feeling like I want to watch it over again, just... I don't know, to make sure that what happened is what they said happened. To watch it, knowing what's going to happen, and being able to go through those feelings of knowing what's going to happen.

I also want to tug at it with words, to make sense of my thoughts on it, but most of the things I want to tease out are spoilery, and I don't think enough people reading would be watching the show for it to be worth the spoilerage. And also because I think the episode would be better experienced without knowing anything beforehand. (Damn you, ABC3 advertising! *shakes fist*)

I'm in serious like with this show. It's mainly about a group of students who are mostly friends who are attending the National Academy of Dance; about varying relationships between friends and how they change, about having a dream and what it takes to pursue it. And Tara's neverending love woes. Aimed at young teen girls, naturally.

I like these characters, the pacing is brisk, it's moderately but not completely predictable, it's fun. There are times certain characters behave in eye-rolling ways (...Tara...), there's places where it feels uneven, there's moments when you have no idea what happened. The start of the first season takes a while to get from 'these are the characters' to 'group dynamics, yay!'

But I like it.

Well...

On one hand, my first console game was Final Fantasy 7, which probably did more to boot me into the SFF-is-awesome headspace than anything else*. I read Animorphs as a teen. I've read Tolkien#. I've read 1984, and Brave New World^. I love Star Wars.

My current favourite musician is a filker. I used to do martial arts, I can make a website from scratch using html and css, I understand the Open Source movement and believe it is a force of good.

I also own every novel Tamora Pierce has published. I read a lot of SciFi/Fantasy YA. One of my all-time favourite epic fantasy series has a lot of -feelings- and -relationships-. Nearly every author in my bookcase of favouritest books evar is female. I've *gasp * read all the Twilight novels.


But I also have a thing for the pretty- there was that time I read all of a MG series because UNICORNS and PRINCESSES and PRETTY SPARKLY MAGIC, even though I was 'too old' at the time. (Unicorns of Balinor, and I was 15-16? Possibly 18-19?- I don't remember) I still like Sailor Moon, although Serena is really annoying as a character. And I still find the care bears' message to be d'awww.

Seriously? I both started a fanfiction for the sole purpose of getting my main characters almost-but-not-for-reals killed over and over, and last night watched the Care Bears Movie because there was nothing on TV.

It's rather bizarre. But I kind of like it.




*I love this kind of authorly evil- the credible death threats. I'd love to go into the level of evil that this game gets into between three specific events, death threats and controllable helplessness.

# I've read The Hobbit and Fellowship, liked The Hobbit better. I found the language in Fellowship to be hard to follow.

^1984 was actually for year 11 Lit, but we got to choose from a long list of books to do. And then I swapped books with a friend who had done Brave New World for the same class. I liked 1984 better- BNW was kind of bland, whereas 1984 was hard, but also ends sharply- it kind of has a non-ending.

What am I? On labels impeding one's sexuality

Content curators are the new superheroes of the web

Why the 'Girl' matters: another post about geek girls and gamer girls

Disney Princesses as Characters from FFX-2 Debating whether I should delete this because I think some of the choices of dress are racist

Defining Genre: the problem with Dystopian Romance
This stuff does my head in, because I still feel that most romantic subplots (in adult UF, mind) don't add anything to the story for me. I don't have much familiarity with current Dystopian (and/or Post-Apocalyptic) YA, but trying to purify one's pet genre by pushing the works of it that one doesn't like towards genres that they don't actually belong in is a massive failure of owning up to one's tastes. Or shows a massive fear of being associated with genres thought to be feminine.

More later, thunderstorm now

I started replaying Final Fantasy 8 yesterday.

It's sort of the odd FF out for me- stuck between 7, my heart game, and 9, the epic fantasy game with the cartoonish characters (and 10, which I initially didn't like much, but liked more each time I played it*). I think I used to really dislike the GF junction system because it initially seemed unnatural- going from a system where stones equipped into weapons or armour gave you magic, summons, abilities bar attack and item, and some stat boosts; to being nothing without a GF equipped, and magic being counted in quantities rather than have/don't have- you draw a quantity of spells from monsters, and once you use all those spells, they're gone. I think that was confronting for my 15 year old self, that the magic wouldn't always be there. And that if you used magic that was junctioned to a stat, that stat would go down. Now I think it's ingenious- for a game where there is rarely a significant risk of losing a fight, but your magic/ability/stat system is highly customisable with risk built into the system.

Also, spirit link creatures that help you do all the things. I do think that is way cooler than the 'come here, says I' implied by all of the other summon systems

*12 doesn't exist. Apart from Ashe, Penelo and Larsa. Haven't played 13 yet.

/nerdery

A local currency being used in Greece to get around problems caused by the economic crisis

Local currency on wikipedia

I find this to be fascinating. One of my story ideas has small communities in an urban setting where only a couple of people go out and work, because there just isn't enough work, and everyone else looks after the crops and the animals, makes things to exchange, or does things for other people. Money from working pays for anything that can't be bartered for, but everything else runs on barter.

Sewing is cool again

In which Molly Quinn cosplays Mal Reynolds Molly Quinn being the actress who plays the daughter of Nathan Fillion's character in Castle.

Baidu 10 mythical creatures Basically, they're all homonyms for swears. And the origin of the list will surprise no-one.

Mandarin Chinese Profanity

Reading: The Forbidden Land, Witches of Eileanan book 4, Kate Forsyth

Writing: Going, slowly. I'm thinking about making an actual wordcount target, but I would be better off making it a weekly one, and making up the words on the weekend, rather than a daily one, for my average hourly wordcount is probably about 350 words, and I'd need to make it up in the evenings.

Life: I kinda want to put up either 'Alot is better at everything than you' or the 'clean all the things' comic at my workstation. Also, my desk usually looks like it was attacked by laminated food and piles of surveys and files and envelopes and letters overnight- or like it was attacked by a trainee's workload. I think my mouse is currently between two stacks of envelopes.

I kind of hope alots exist in the Discount Armageddon world- not that I have the book yet, but that it would be cool.

Links: Sunday Singalong: Deborah Conway I remember her voice well, but I can only remember 'its only the beginning' as a thing that she sang.

Allie's dogs are both insane

You don't get something for nothing, even in social justice

List of Australian women writers of diverse heritage

A fandom guide to firearms, in many posts

Ravenclaws- Rebecca Black parody

I've just written up a blog post, a long one. It took me about two hours to write, word count says it's 500 words long. But I'm not happy with most of it because I think it's incoherent and doesn't build up to make the point I was trying to make.

So here's the thing: I love blogging, and I love being thinky, and I love writing down my thinky thoughts because they then gain clarity and sometimes show themselves as being less awesome than I had thought they were. But the actual amount of time it takes me to do so is kind of ridiculous. Those 500 words took roughly twice the amount of time to write than working on a novel would have, and I may possibly get paid for the novels. And I have a blogging audience of not many people.

I would like to be posting once a week, and posting something more interesting than 'stuffs, I did them' and 'hey, links!' But it's really unlikely that I will be able to put so much time into writing big blog posts on a regular basis. It's not a good allocation of the resources that I have right now.

I am actually rather freaked out by the feeling that if I want to do things, I have to give up on doing other things that may be equally awesome, or more awesome. I find it hard to accept that I can't do all the things.

Disclaimer- I am very aware that I am not in a bad situation compared to what other people are in or have been in as far as life options go. This is what I am going through, this is something I am learning how to deal with. I am currently in a situation where it is ecomonically viable for me to downgrade to working part time if I continue to find that working full time is taking more than it is giving, and I am lucky that this is the case.

I have being working full time for almost four months now. And it still weighs uneasily on me.

At work, all is fine. I do what I'm asked to, read at lunch, go home. And then real life resumes- the house is a mess, there are shows on I want to watch, I have a seed of an idea for another filk, I have to check my email because I haven't looked at it in a week, it's my turn to make dinner tonight, and I don't care enough to make the house pretty or the garden weed-free because fuck it, I can't watch tv or check my email at work and I've been doing what other people want of me all day.

I want so much, to be an awesome novelist and short story writer, to be a competent filker and to be able to draw well, be be well read in fantasy and to read nonfic far more often than I do, to blog at least once a week.

I want so much, and I don't know how to fit everything in, much less leave room for mucking around, seeing friends, marathoning Firefly, replaying Final Fantasy 7 and playing Bastion, spending hours reading.

More work, and less panic, and I might get there. And if I don't, I have options.

Reading: The Cursed Towers, Witches of Eileanan book 3, Kate Forsyth.

I'm finding that I haven't had the same kinds of problems I had with the first book for quite a while, and that the author was working on the problem I had with Iseult's treatment in the book. Sort of.

I feel like I should be taking detailled notes on what's working and what's not, and partly because it takes so long to get through them.

Writing: Started on a new story about a fox shifter, called either With Fox Eyes or Not Fur Nor Flesh. I don't have a proper plot outline yet, but I have enough ideas for it to have a direction. For now.

I am happy.

Life: More movies- saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (my verdict- realised too late it was about old white men and forms of politicing that I don't much care for, tried to go to sleep.) And when we got home, we introduced Gramma to Thor, the movie, which she enjoyed.

Links, the I have linked all the things edition:

Maggie Stiefvater has a dog who is hilarious. And illustrated.

In which there are pictures of Ashley Eckstein cosplaying Ahsoka Tano

In which a dude suggests a good viewing order for all the Star Wars movies I would like to marathon them in this order, just to see the arc working in the way he describes.

Diana Peterfreund points out that for all the people being outraged on the internet, they rarely follow up to actually help fix things

PC Wrede has written a series of posts on what one does as part of the writing business, very little of it actually being writing

The Art of Being Fearless

And lastly. And importantly:

Paypal strongarms Smashwords into removing some kinds of smut

Please read this. I don't feel that this is the place of Paypal, who pretty much have a monopoly on online financial transactions, to say what indie booksellers should and shouldn't be publishing. It is a slippery slope- especially when the includes content that constitutes consensual sex.

Writing: I took a break from it this week, because I haven't been writing recently anyway and I may as well not pressure myself and feel faily because it didn't happen.

Reading: I finished Tower of Two Moons but haven't yet started The Cursed Towers, which is the book 3.

Work: Random. I was switched into a new department at work because the people who are overseeing us trainees were concerned that my supervisor and mentor didn't have enough time to look after me properly, and next week my new mentor and supervisor are switching places, because my supervisor is taking on more responsibility with not much notice.

Life: I am taking my mum to see The Phantom Menace in 3D tomorrow. She is a Star Wars fan from way back. I love the universe, but wish that the movies weren't mostly about the chosen guy saving the world and getting the girl. Or destroying the world and not getting the girl.

I'm going for the epic battle at the end.

And I'm seeing Chronicle with my sister and grandma today, and then we're going out to have dinner.

Links:

Personal Freedom.

Project Unbreakable. It's a photography project on the subject of sexual assault. The photographer wants to be able to take the project on tour. Consider this a signal boost.

Cat Valente dispenses writing advice, You Are What You Love, Between the Perfect and the Real, Operating Narrative Machinery, and Not Enough Credit, Not Enough time. She says some things that I haven't seen talked about much, like the disconnect between what's in your head and what can be translated onto the page. Or anywhere, like that you can have strangeness of style, of plot, and of structure; but if all three are strange you are going to have trouble getting readers to stay (and if none are strange, your work is likely to be derivative and uninteresting). And the thing about What Everyone Knows, on what everyone believes being telling about a culture, which I want to keep around for reference.

Nine Essential Skills Kids should learn. And adults, too

Periodic Table of Cupcakes, because it's awesome, even if science is still a language you mostly don't speak, like me.

Greco-Roman Domestic Worship Because I had it open and it reminded me of things that I hadn't done proper research into for Serpent Queen.

Writing: Not much. One of my archived ideas, stone magic, started begging at me so now it has a bare bones plot, and I also got another idea for a short story, on what would happen if religion was banned because society decided it had no need for it.

With Chained, I think I'm going to scale back on working on it until it starts to behave.

Reading: Tower of Two Moons, still. There's a reason why they call them doorstoppers.

Fun: Yesterday I went to Melbourne with my sister because she got tickets to see the MSO play Doctor Who, and I had some specific books that I wanted to get from specific bookshops in Melbourne. Such as Toby Daye books 2-5 from 'OF Science and Swords'. Which I couldn't find. Sigh. So we went to Minotaur. Little did I know that my sister hadn't been there before. Because she had no money, and didn't want to borrow any more from me than she needed to. Poor sister. I did find one of the Toby Daye books, but it was An Artificial Night, aka book 3. As well as Kingdom of the Gods (NK Jemisen) and an urban fantasy by Katherine Kerr.

The concert was cool, there were people in costume, so many people dressed up as eleven, some women in dalek dresses, a guy as nine, a six, a femme!eleven or two. Lots of fezes.

The concert was specifically for Steven Moffat's era, (with a song running through all the doctor's regenerations and the theme, of course). They had screens set up which they screened footage of the series on, sometimes montages, other times whole scenes. Lots of monsters. Lots of people taking photos during the show too. :( I enjoyed it, but it reminded me of some of the things I didn't like about Steven Moffat's run too- reminded me of things I had forgotten, even. But one of my favoutire musical themes is new to this era.

Links: Roy Morgan polling shows how the official statistics for unemployment are underreported.

And to make up for the depressing: Spray- Everything's Better With Muppets

Reading: The Tower of Two Moons, Witches of Eileanan book 2, Kate Forsyth

Writing: Today I have been working on the plot outline for Chained, which is slowly becoming a better story. During the week I have been working on the writing of it, and it's been going verrrry slowly.

I'm thinking about writing something else at the same time as I write it, probably Lunaris, because most days writing it goes at glacial pace, and I'm feeling impatient. Also, it might just not be a story I can make work.

Life: I went to the night market with some workmates and bought a pretty pretty pocketwatch, a pretty pretty silk skirt, and some pretty pretty juggling balls. Not that I know how to juggle. Yet. I am also going to be doing bellydancing classes with a workmate.

I saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie last night. Lots of fun, though it took a while to get the hang of watching Holmes figure out what in his surroundings he could use in a fight, and then watching him use them, because both scenes initially look exactly the same. Except on the occasions something happened that he didn't consider. Those are fun.

Writing: The only thing I needed to do to fix Chained properly, once and for all, (crosses fingers) was making the protagonist active instead of passive. And do a shipload of reasearch. Right now, I have a heap of

Reading: The Pool of Two Moons, Witches of Eileanan 2, Kate Forsyth

At Work: Chasing people to get them to give you work is somewhat unfun.

Things No-One Really Needs to Know: The Chinese name for Saturn translates back into English as earth-star, earth as in the element. All of the planets from Saturn inwards have similar names- wood-star (Jupiter), fire-star (Mars), metal-star (Venus), and water-star (Mercury).

I love how the names of the days of the week seem to often match up to gods and planets and elements if you trace them the right way.

Links, Girls who Look Like They Can't Do Anything Due to the Sexy Edition:

Jim Hines poses like women on urban fantasy covers

_ocelott_ poses like women and men on urban fantasy covers, difference is striking Also, I think when she does the male poses the mostly just look so much better and more interesting than the female poses. They seem to look more like a character being themselves rather than 'LOOK AT ME! I'M HOT'

Ils, a martial artist and contortionist, says many comic book poses are literally impossible for a real person to copy

And showing how to do it well, Women in Reasonable Armour

Writing: I have some new ideas for Chained/ the vampire novel that will make iit much better, I think. On the other hand I've literally been coming up with ideas to make it better for years, and no finished draft I'm happy with. *crosses fingers that this will be it*

I still have a stack of short story ideas, and some that are mostly written. It would be good to finish them and start submitting them.

Reading: Almost finished rereading Dragonclaw, Witches of Eileanan book 1, Kate Forsyth. I've been keeping an eye out on what's been done well, what I really like, and what I find has been less well done.

Life: I have a lot better idea of who sits where at work after having taken around an oversized card to most of the people on the floor.

Also, I spent most of my evenings watching tv and rushing to finish my herbarium (aka sewing pressed plants into an A3 artist's book), so I could give it, or photos of it, to my former teacher so I could actually pass the course.

Oh Dear Gods No: the night's entertainment: picking a colour, and then drinking (coke) whenever a character in The Tribe is wearing that colour (in clothes, hair or makeup). We gave up when we got to three glasses in two half hour episodes, and would have drunk as much in one if either of us had chosen red.

The Webisode: I wonder if using < strong > to embolden mini headings is actually useful to people who use screenreaders?

Made of Plant-Stuff: My rounded noonflower should be watered again. And more often, generally. It's not dying- anything that can live both in and out of saltmarsh is generally a tough little plant.

I have a sunflower that seriously needs to be repotted. And I should probably see if the pumpkin would benefit from being in a bigger pot too.

Linkies, (mostly) girl-power edition: I discovered the social justice league this week, and they writing excellent stuff- go have a look at their post defining micro- and macro-problematic, the one on Loki really just wanting to be an awesomely good white person Aesir, and how to be a fan of problematic things.

From and shadesong, I'm sort of lurking at both journals

Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits

An amorer weighs in on the trend of women-in-armor = chainmail bikini in fantasy art, and how people can approach drawing women in armor in a more realistic fashion

Female explorer and botanist Jeanne Baret finally gets a plant named after her

Learning to Believe

Reading this broke me out of a 'life sucks, grrr' mood a couple of days ago. And I want to do something like that, but as 'I have permission to' rather than 'I believe'. I believe all sorts of things, but I rarely give myself permission.

Writing about Rape Trigger warning for display of dismissive attitudes towards survivors of sexual assault

Jim Hines mocks how a lot of writers use rape because it is a Bad Thing and the people who do it are Evil With Evilness on Top and use it in stereotypical ways rather than researching whether the sterotypes are accurate and how people deal with the aftermath.

25 things writers should stop doing

And also Top 25 Terribleminds posts of 2011

Really cool futuristic redesigns of the characters from Jem

In reference to the 'The Wedding of River Song' post, I wrote and posted the following on my private journal before I saw the season final. I was completely wrong, but I think it might make a good fanfic. Pity I've got at least three novels on my plate and a handful of short stories- a fanfic would just be irresponsible.

The following contains mild spoilers for many of the episodes River Song has been in.

( Cue cut tag. )

Have a random webcomic about a woman talking to a griffin about being human/female

Lupa made a grown up red riding hood costume and it is amazeballs!

Strange as Truth has started a really interesting series of posts on the way certain tropes appear in high and low fantasy- go see Part one- Fate, Prophecy and Destiny and Part two- Saving the World Six Times Before Breakfast (Or Not)

And have a Daily Kos article on what Martin Luther King actually did for black Americans living in the south. That is pretty amazing, actually.