An open thread for personal stuff, continuing from here.
As usual for these threads: no trolls, no MRAs, no I’m-not-really-an-MRA-buts, don’t be mean.
Categories
We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
We Hunted The Mammoth
Me too! And I thought that Mr. FM and I were the only ones.
It actually took me an embarrassing amount of time to warm up to David Tennant. I sat there silently projecting my petulance at the screen for several episodes; how dare he not be Chris Eccleston! Then I finally got over myself and accepted that David Tennant was great and I was being a spoiled brat.
Matt Smith was great, too. No complaints about anything from the reboot.
Oh, I stopped watching after DT. I loved him so much that it took a year before I could watch the programme.
Yeah, total lovefest.
This video just made my day
That was marvelous.
Not wishing to go all “you’re doing feminism wrong” here but I found strivingallly’s vid a bit problematic? Cos, like, she was still conventionally beautiful to a degree 75 % of women can’t really be , and has *all the privilege* so not being ladylike comes off as a “semi-adorable permissible flaw”. (Maybe I’m being unnecessarily hard on Buzzfeed and the causes of Buzzfeed, just putting it out there?)
Wwth’s video seemed to get it a little more IMO.
(Amateur intersectional rant over.)
Oh yeah, Aitch, that was just meant for a bit of a giggle. Certainly not an examplar of progressiveness, I just liked the mockery of the “ladylike” concept. 🙂
Strivingally, ok, no harm done 🙂 it was kinda funny yes. (Also I want the dress she fidgeted in)
Is anyone else (in N America) ridiculously excited that Godzilla get’s released on dvd tuesday?
I just started reading a book called The Magicians by Lev Grossman. It’s a cross between Harry Potter and the Narnia series, but modern and for adults. “people going exploring a new world” is my fave fantasy genre, so I should be really loving it, but I’m not. As described in this blog post the main character is a total Nice Guy.
I can’t work out whether he’s deliberately awful as part of the plot and he will redeem himself later or he’s written to go against the perfect hero archetype, or Grossman thinks the character is actually a nice ordinary guy.
I want to ask Grossman on Twitter, but I don’t know how to phrase it so he believes it’s a legit question, and not trolling, and actually answers me. He said in an interview that the book is semi-autobiographical, so he might take it personally to be told the character is so unlikeable.
Anyone else read it? Any ideas for asking him?
Kim: Death of the Author, I say. If he wrote a total shithead, he wrote a total shithead, and his goal in writing such is water under the bridge.
(Personally, I think “it’s part of the plot and will make sense later in the series” is never an acceptable defense. In the first place, it essentially makes the author of an ongoing series immune to criticism, and in the second place, even if a later book makes everything work out brilliantly, that doesn’t make the first book any more pleasant.)
He doesn’t hit my cute-o-meter, but his leather jacket does! 🙂
I liked Tennant a lot, though I didn’t follow all the series; I didn’t much care for Matt Smith. I like Capaldi a lot, so far: it’s good to see an older Doctor again.
Well, I had my interviews today – first one with the job agency, then with the employer. Fingers crossed, I’ll take this job if it’s offered. For one thing, the person I think will be my boss, and her boss, both have long trips in on the train, so they know what that’s like! It’ll be a couple of weeks at least before I hear anything.
kittehserf, crossing fingers (and holding thumbs)! Job (and money!) sounds good.
I liked Matt Smith as the doctor, but that might have more to do with having a non-whovian friend who could be Matt Smith’s body double. He can even do a pretty decent accent, too! And, he talks really, really fast when he’s into something.
Flat out refuses to watch Dr. Who, though.
We bought him a bow tie last Christmas. We want to get him a pocket watch, next. It makes us happy, and he’s not opposed to bow ties and pocket watches. We have not tested his level of tolerance so far as a fez.
So, yeah, Matt Smith and his “Big shiny red buttons that should not be pushed have my name written all over them. Well, not really, but give me five minutes… and a crayon”-ness will always have a special place in my heart.
No cable, so I’ll know how awesome capaldi is once they hit Netflix. The “Kidneys? I don’t like the color!” seems promising…
🙂
Crossing my fingers for the job interview, Kittehs!
Thanks, Aitch, contrapangloss!
On advicey stuff for people … wish I had any to offer! But failing that, hugs. With furs.
I’m not keen on Matt Smith, but yes..Capaldi is good.
May all the job fairies be with you, Kitteh!
So, I promised Cloudiah to give an update on the Swedish elections that were held yesterday. The result is FUCKING DEPRESSING.
First of all though, I should explain the Swedish election system: A party needs to get at least 4 % of the votes in order to get any seats in the parliament at all. All parties with at least 4 % then get seats in proportion to the number of votes they have. Usually the biggest party will form a government together with some smaller parties that are similar enough ideologically for cooperation to run smoothly.
We’ve had a right-wing government for the past eight years consisting of
1. The Moderates, the biggest of the right-wing parties. Economic liberals (free market in all sectors, low taxes etc).
2. The Christian Democrats, really small party, conservatives.
3. The Center Party, used to be a party for farmers and people in the countryside, has turned more neo-liberal lately.
4. The People’s Party, used to be more center-liberal, has since gone more to the right.
This government has really stripped down the welfare state during its time in power, and I was so eager to see it go. And it will. But you’ll quickly see why I still think the result is depressing.
The results are:
1. The Moderates. 23,2 %.
2. The Christian Democrats, 4,6 %.
3. The Center Party, 6,1 %.
4. The People’s Party, 5,4 %.
6. The Social Democrats, 31,2 %. They will be asked to form a government.
7. The Left Party, 5,7 %.
8. The Environmental Party, 6,8 %.
9. The Feminist Party, 3,1 %. For some time it looked as if the Feminists would enter parliament for the first time, but alas.
10. The Swedish Democrats, 12,9 %. AND THAT’S THE FUCKING DEPRESSING PART. The Swedish Democrats is a party that was actually formed out of a real Nazi organization a couple of decades back. FOR REALS. Loads of their members have a violent criminal record, even during their time in parliament actual members of parliament from this party have been involved in various hate crimes… And still they get THIRTEEN FUCKING PERCENT. That’s scary.
Their basic stick is that they claim that Sweden can go back to being a real welfare state only if we stop immigration, not otherwise. My impression is that this is why lots of people vote for them. Obviously they wouldn’t be able to pull this stunt if not for the fact that we’ve had a right-wing government for eight years that’s been busy wrecking the welfare state.
So at this point, all bets are off, except that the Social Democrats are gonna be asked by the parliament’s chairman to formed a government. That much is given; but are they gonna try to cooperate with some of the right-wing parties? The lefties on their own, after all, didn’t pull as many votes as hoped… How much is politics really gonna change? And how fun is it gonna be for POC:s in Sweden, with this much support for fucking SD? Only time will tell. 🙁
@Katz
Excellent points.
I’m thinking his protagonist would have been ok, if he’d had another primary character who was female, or if he’d made it an ensemble, so the current main character could stay with his head up his arse, but you’d get an outside perspective of how that wasn’t ok, but maybe he had his good moments, and explain why on earth his gf ever dated him. The way he’s written it though, it’s like the author and the character both see nothing wrong with his Nice Guyness, and other misogyny, so show it as acceptable and even encouraged for any clueless nerdboys who read the book and identify with the character.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the author considered himself a feminist (he writes strong, smart female characters) but that he harboured some healthy ideas about women (strong smart characters who just happen to be conventionally gorgeous and willing to have sex with the nerdy Nice Guy protagonist))
I sent him a tweet, but it’s a terrible medium for actually discussing anything.
Thanks, gilshalos!
Dvarg, that sucks rotten eggs. 🙁
@Contrapangloss:
Woah, 21 hours? And you played go? That sounds brain-warping. Glad I’ve never had to experience that :b
I heard that the Swedish Democrats had gotten more seats, and thought of you, Dvarg 🙁
@Dvärghundspossen How depressing. They’re calling this a massive victory over on r/mr.
@Dvärghundspossen wow, that sucks. Ugh. Why do people have to be such unthinking asshats????
Not surprised, Cloudiah. 🙁
I loved Matt Smith as the Doctor (he’s my number 3 after Tom Baker & David Tennant), though that may have been because I really loved Amy & Rory. I’m starting to enjoy Capaldi, the first 2 episodes felt like he was reading dialog designed for Matt Smith, but I may be prejudiced since I despise Clara (I do not like Manic Pixie Dream Girl characters).
Dvärgshundspossen, so sorry 🙁 this result made me really angry yesterday, most people I’m coming across are spinning it as ‘but Sweden Democrats are only taking a space that should be taken by more moderate immigration-critics’ (whatever that is)
I really think the Swedish way of handling SD-like parties is the decent and right one, even if it does give them a few extra votes. Otherwise the small group of racists get to control and frame the issue of whether people should be able to settle where they want, which should just be a basic fucking human right (subject to resources, but Sweden is *big*). I just wish there was a better way of handling it in terms of representation.
Re that, cloudiah, are r/mr more happy about SD doing well or the feminists doing badly?
In more positive news: I’m trying for the first time to argue LGBT and anti-racist causes in an almost exclusive male online space I’ve been in for years (and am still playing cis man in), where they used to borrow MRA-style views of women by a kind of osmosis, it was full of 18-year-old boys at one point. The current argument there is still mostly being held on a basic human decency level, though. (There’s one troll who everyone shakes their head at). It might just be because there’s three or four guys who flooded the thread with ally perspectives and the others are keeping mum, but I’ll take that over its previous state.