(no subject)
May. 5th, 2007 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivienWeekly fandom roundup! For lo, I am a happy geek girl.
I missed Buffy #2, but thankfully the comic store I went to on my side of town had an abundance with both versions of cover art (I didn't even know they came in two versions). When I walked in, the owner (who knows me from my Neverwhere purchasing days) said "Looking for Buffy?" I laughed and said, "Actually, that and Supernatural: Origins." He hooked me up with Buffy #2 and #3, SPN: Origins, and then I went ahead and picked up the latest Dark Tower.
I am in love with this Buffy series. It's so much like the show - the banter, the characterizations... sigh. I was a wee bit sad to find out Willow is still kind of with Kennedy, but that's okay. And Xander's kinda way hotter than in the series. It's the eyepatch. I even like the Buffy/Xander implications. He's a good fellow, and she needs a good fellow.
Supernatural: Origins made me glee with much glee, as I have backstory for Missouri! And it's a rather kick ass backstory, at that. This makes me happy. Of course, the John parts were poignant. I really felt for him, trying to get someone, anyone, to listen to what had really happened. Of course, the second story was a heart breaker. Mom's birthday, teaching Sam to swim. Oh, Dean.
Oh, Dean. Yeah, that was a great episode. The mowing the lawn? Just... that joy in such a mundane thing. I think Dean wants a home more than Sam ever did, mostly because he knows he can never have one (or thinks that, anyway).
After the episode was over, Jen's 12-yr-old emailed her saying (and I quote, as I have the email) " *tear* Supernatural's over, and....and it showed a preview for the season finale....and....and.....I think Sammy dies!!!!!!!!!!! *starts bawling*"
Is that funny, or what? I am so pleased to have hooked Jen and her daughter. It gives me great geek girl pride.
Okay, not technically fandom. So sue me. "American Doll Posse" is fan-freakin'-tastic. I am really pleased by how lush and varied the sound is. It hearkens to "Boys for Pele" at times, which is my favorite Tori album. I highly recommend it.
Man, I have been out of the RP loop this week. Didn't feel like playing, barely felt like reading, became convinced it wouldn't matter if I stopped altogether. WTF? Silly me. It was just one of Those Weeks, and I am already over it (even though I can't play tonight, and didn't play last night - my precious weekend RP is all used up, it would seem). I was thinking today that this is the first summer in two years in which I had no giant plot to be a part of or lead. So now I am thinking I want to start something. Something fun. Maybe a Gentlemen-esque, Tofu Zombie-related thing. Or something Underside-y. There must be plot!
As I wait for the latest episode to download, I think on some thoughts I've had the last coupe of weeks in seeing the response to Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks. There has been a bit of a hue and cry in some comms about Solomon's characterization as a black man who happens to be a leader of the Hooverville encampment with complaints of revisionist history and unrealistic depictions of African-Americans at that time.
To this argument, I have to say, "..." Dr. Who clearly happens on an earth which is not our own. I mean, Harriet Jones is not PM of Britain, and last I checked, we've not had any Cybermen or Daleks coming to visit at any point in the last few years. On this AU earth (which is very much like our own), I like to think that a black man could have been a leader in Hooverville. I also think that casting someone in a role because he or she is good and does well in the role matters a whole lot more than worrying about their skin color. So if historically on our earth Solomon wouldn't have been how he was portrayed in a rather silly scifi show set on a different version earth, then so what?
When I was in high school, it was still controversial to cast actors of color in Shakespearian roles (aside from Othello, of course) because "it was not what was historically accurate or traditional." I'm glad those days are over.
And now I am done talkin'. Woo hoo!
I missed Buffy #2, but thankfully the comic store I went to on my side of town had an abundance with both versions of cover art (I didn't even know they came in two versions). When I walked in, the owner (who knows me from my Neverwhere purchasing days) said "Looking for Buffy?" I laughed and said, "Actually, that and Supernatural: Origins." He hooked me up with Buffy #2 and #3, SPN: Origins, and then I went ahead and picked up the latest Dark Tower.
I am in love with this Buffy series. It's so much like the show - the banter, the characterizations... sigh. I was a wee bit sad to find out Willow is still kind of with Kennedy, but that's okay. And Xander's kinda way hotter than in the series. It's the eyepatch. I even like the Buffy/Xander implications. He's a good fellow, and she needs a good fellow.
Supernatural: Origins made me glee with much glee, as I have backstory for Missouri! And it's a rather kick ass backstory, at that. This makes me happy. Of course, the John parts were poignant. I really felt for him, trying to get someone, anyone, to listen to what had really happened. Of course, the second story was a heart breaker. Mom's birthday, teaching Sam to swim. Oh, Dean.
Oh, Dean. Yeah, that was a great episode. The mowing the lawn? Just... that joy in such a mundane thing. I think Dean wants a home more than Sam ever did, mostly because he knows he can never have one (or thinks that, anyway).
After the episode was over, Jen's 12-yr-old emailed her saying (and I quote, as I have the email) " *tear* Supernatural's over, and....and it showed a preview for the season finale....and....and.....I think Sammy dies!!!!!!!!!!! *starts bawling*"
Is that funny, or what? I am so pleased to have hooked Jen and her daughter. It gives me great geek girl pride.
Okay, not technically fandom. So sue me. "American Doll Posse" is fan-freakin'-tastic. I am really pleased by how lush and varied the sound is. It hearkens to "Boys for Pele" at times, which is my favorite Tori album. I highly recommend it.
Man, I have been out of the RP loop this week. Didn't feel like playing, barely felt like reading, became convinced it wouldn't matter if I stopped altogether. WTF? Silly me. It was just one of Those Weeks, and I am already over it (even though I can't play tonight, and didn't play last night - my precious weekend RP is all used up, it would seem). I was thinking today that this is the first summer in two years in which I had no giant plot to be a part of or lead. So now I am thinking I want to start something. Something fun. Maybe a Gentlemen-esque, Tofu Zombie-related thing. Or something Underside-y. There must be plot!
As I wait for the latest episode to download, I think on some thoughts I've had the last coupe of weeks in seeing the response to Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks. There has been a bit of a hue and cry in some comms about Solomon's characterization as a black man who happens to be a leader of the Hooverville encampment with complaints of revisionist history and unrealistic depictions of African-Americans at that time.
To this argument, I have to say, "..." Dr. Who clearly happens on an earth which is not our own. I mean, Harriet Jones is not PM of Britain, and last I checked, we've not had any Cybermen or Daleks coming to visit at any point in the last few years. On this AU earth (which is very much like our own), I like to think that a black man could have been a leader in Hooverville. I also think that casting someone in a role because he or she is good and does well in the role matters a whole lot more than worrying about their skin color. So if historically on our earth Solomon wouldn't have been how he was portrayed in a rather silly scifi show set on a different version earth, then so what?
When I was in high school, it was still controversial to cast actors of color in Shakespearian roles (aside from Othello, of course) because "it was not what was historically accurate or traditional." I'm glad those days are over.
And now I am done talkin'. Woo hoo!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-05-05 11:43 pm (UTC)On this AU earth (which is very much like our own), I like to think that a black man could have been a leader in Hooverville. I also think that casting someone in a role because he or she is good and does well in the role matters a whole lot more than worrying about their skin color. So if historically on our earth Solomon wouldn't have been how he was portrayed in a rather silly scifi show set on a different version earth, then so what?
Mir and I have been talking about this, a little, and...as much as I would love to agree, I can't. Which isn't to say that I don't agree with you 100% about good acting being more important than skin color, because I do. A lot.
It's just that this is a wildly popular show in another country portraying the history of another country with whom they have close ties as having little to no problem with race-driven violence. As though African-Americans have nothing to complain about once slavery was through with. As though Jim Crow wasn't on the books in the South. As though there wouldn't have been anything problematic in New York City with a black man refusing to do something for a white man on the grounds that the pay was "a slave wage".
As much as I like the idea of the United States turning into a socialist utopia (and lord knows I'm in favor of it), I'm not in favor of popular culture whitewashing history at the expense of a minority group. I'm from the South. I cannot suspend my disbelief enough to let that slide. If there were any way to acknowledge that this was an AU version of history, somehow, it'd be very different. But to present that as historical truth? Unacceptable. Even on a show that doesn't exactly pride itself on historical accuracy. We already know that what we see influences our aesthetic and cultural perceptions of how things ought to be -- see also women in ads and definitions of beauty -- and it also influences the way we see history.
I think "Daleks in Manhattan" is dangerous, I think it's offensive, and I don't really care if people think I'm overreacting.
...but at least David Tennant was pretty. :D?
no subject
Date: 2007-05-06 12:30 am (UTC)I'm from the South, too, and from a time in which racial tensions were high in a dangerous way (to both black and white residents) and black girls couldn't join the Brownie troop I belonged to. I rarely write about stuff like this, because people do tend to get passionate about the subject.
You have every right to your opinion, but I just can't see it in this case.
But yes, at least David Tennant is pretty. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-06 12:47 am (UTC)My generation in general saw the incorporation of people of color into a more fully functioning part of society/pop culture/etc. Yours grew up with it. So I see colorblind casting (in general - not going into the specific of this particular episode) as a victory, whereas you see it as the norm.
So that might explain why I am not as riled up as you. I'm just glad to see black actors getting cool roles that could have just as easily gone to white ones.
Also, re: putting heads together. Oh yes, yes indeed.
*disappears for the evening*
no subject
Date: 2007-05-06 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-06 11:54 am (UTC)And I'm with you - I was hoping that Kennedy was out of the picture damn it. Oh and who kissed Buffy ?
no subject
Date: 2007-05-06 06:27 pm (UTC)