Random Thoughts

[[ETM]]

Please, not this stupid argument again.

[Dukefrukem]

Who the fuck is Amanda Palmer?

[Irish]

Singer from the Dresden Dolls. Now independent. Married to Neil Gaiman.

Occasionally, she shakes a virtual cup at her online fanbase and begs them for loose change.

[Skitch]

Who the fuck is Amanda Palmer?

I have not the foggiest of clues.

[Spun Lepton]

I wonder how popular beards would be if we referred to them as "facial pubes."

"Hey, Bob, looks like you haven't shaved your facial pubes in a while."
"Yeah, I'm going for the overgrown been-camping-for-a-month eternally-single-guy crotch-face look."

[

Show Spoiler

Saw a guy on the bus today with a long and unruly beard that looked like he had glued pubes to his face.

]

[Irish]

Guy posts 27,000 times to Rotten Tomatoes between 2005 and 2015... writes article about the decline of forums in the age of social media:

[“RT,” as we regulars call it, is the subject of my longest-standing online loyalty. It is far from perfect—like many online spaces, the male-dominated usership hasn’t always been welcoming to female voices. But I was there before Facebook or Twitter. It’s where I discovered the Internet’s potential to connect. It’s been a place to talk to all kinds of people, from all over the world—people who shared my insatiable love for movies. I spent many weekends in my teens at my grandparents’ house, watching films like Pulp Fiction after convincing my grandpa, who didn’t know any better, to rent them for me. But I grew up in a small town in central Ohio. There weren’t many people my age with whom to discuss Tarantino or Scorsese or Kubrick.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/theslic...ook-reddit-era

[EyesWideOpen]

I wonder how popular beards would be if we referred to them as "facial pubes."

"Hey, Bob, looks like you haven't shaved your facial pubes in a while."
"Yeah, I'm going for the overgrown been-camping-for-a-month eternally-single-guy crotch-face look."

[

Show Spoiler

Saw a guy on the bus today with a long and unruly beard that looked like he had glued pubes to his face.

]

That's how everyone with beards look to me. One of the stupidest fads going around now days.

[Skitch]

Good read, Irish. I echo a lot of what he said. I was bummed when I realized it was time for me to move on from RT (when an update rendered 300 posts of ratings/reviews were practically ruined and I wasnt going to edit that many blog posts), but thank god for MC. Its better here anyway. I prefer a smaller community, far less trolls.

[number8]

That Kevin Smith fiasco was so embarrassing.

[Scar]

Sitting in the living room sipping a glass of wine while the girlfriend and roommate make butternut squash raviolis from scratch. Its nice to be kicked out of the kitchen occassionally.

[[ETM]]

That's how everyone with beards look to me. One of the stupidest fads going around now days.

Only a guy with no beard would say that.

[Ezee E]

Only a guy with no beard would say that.

:lol:

[number8]

I thought this could be a fun experiment to try. It's really funny that they picked Neil Gaiman as the example and a lot of his fans went into defensive outrage mode and Gaiman's reaction to it was, "Uh, I totally support this."

http://www.xojane.com/entertainment/...s-for-one-year

[D_Davis]

I thought this could be a fun experiment to try. It's really funny that they picked Neil Gaiman as the example and a lot of his fans went into defensive outrage mode and Gaiman's reaction to it was, "Uh, I totally support this."

http://www.xojane.com/entertainment/...s-for-one-year

I'd spend a year reading Samuel R. Delany, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ken Asamatsu, Clive Barker, Catherynne M. Valente, K.J. Bishop, Joanna Russ, Tanith Lee, Kurahashi Yumiko, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and others.

That's the nice thing about genre fiction - all kinds of non-straight, white Cis male authors.

[Irish]

That's the nice thing about genre fiction - all kinds of non-straight, white Cis male authors.

This is the part that stuns me-- who needs to be told to do this? I mean, like you say, the great (best?) thing about genre fiction is the wide variety of viewpoints (that said, Tanith Lee, ugh). I've always chosen based on what looks the most interesting, not based on the attributes of the author.

xojane is always a mixed bad, but there's a weird political edge to this essay I don't like. (And besides, who the fuck ragequits reading?)

Also, this:

"Slowly but surely, the world is noticing that 'meritocracy' in the arts and entertainment industries is as fictitious as Westeros," Govinnage says.

And this:

When I settle in to read a magazine now, I read in order of stories I think I'll like best.

Makes me think the author and her associates may be deeply stupid.

[number8]

Meritocracy is bullshit, no?

Also, I kinda assumed the political angle is the whole point of the experiment.

[D_Davis]

I was kind of being facetious when I said that.

It's actually really easy to read books and stories by LGBTQ non-white males. The fact that some feels the need to to create a project about it is weird to me.
However, one of the strongest voices in feminist genre literature right now is a male - JM McDermot. He writes the best female characters I've ever read.

Tanith Lee has some great weird fiction.

[D_Davis]

Also, I think 1/2 of the 10 best selling fiction authors of all time are women.

Fiction is probably (might be?) the best medium of all when it comes to the diversity of its creators.

[D_Davis]

I guess I can see the point of the project being to mindfully seek out and read only certain kinds of authors.

I can respect that. I mean, when I set out to read books written only by white, gay-hating republicans, it was difficult to find anyone else except for Orson Scott Card.

[number8]

I was kind of being facetious when I said that.

It's actually really easy to read books and stories by LGBTQ non-white males. The fact that some feels the need to to create a project about it is weird to me.
However, one of the strongest voices in feminist genre literature right now is a male - JM McDermot. He writes the best female characters I've ever read.

Tanith Lee has some great weird fiction.

Well, doesn't that support the initiative even more? It's true that it is that easy, and yet this proposal is balked to be un-doable by a lot of people? Kinda like how the Bechdel test was designed to illustrate a low bar that's super easy to pass, and yet most Hollywood movies fail at it anyway. The challenge was inspired by this recent Guardian article that had this bit:

Rather than restricting myself, my decision to be conscious about what I read introduced me to books I ordinarily would not have bothered with. Instead of my usual crime/procedural/legal thrillers, I actually read some science fiction. And some fantasy.

What I got out of all this is the idea that for most people, they pick books based on what sounds interesting to them, and they can easily end up with a list that has no POC authors at all, but the opposite is rarely true, because they invariably will gravitate to the new Gaiman or King or Meltzer.

[D_Davis]

Yeah, I can see that.

You do have to veer a little off the beaten path into the realms of non-best sellers and geek-culture faves, for sure.

[Irish]

Meritocracy is bullshit, no?

Yes, to anyone out of short pants. Yet the Guardian author states this as if it's a startling revelation.

Also, I kinda assumed the political angle is the whole point of the experiment.

To politicize fiction & one's own habits is a big, ugly minefield.

I like championing the obscure over the mainstream, but there are better ways to go about it than this.

[number8]

You do have to veer a little off the beaten path into the realms of non-best sellers and geek-culture faves, for sure.

Which is a good practice, I think, for anyone who claims to want to consume art. I set a restriction on my top 10 list for a similar reason, because when you cut out the same 5 movies that everyone thinks are year bests, you can make room for ones that don't get a lot of love.

I absolutely believe that because human beings are cliquey in nature, most of us exist in biased social circles based on our race or our economic class, so there are merits in setting arbitrary limitations and forcing ourselves to work a little harder to seek something out, rather than just trusting what kind of pop culture stuff we're naturally exposed to. Even with the internet, it's easy to be content.

[number8]

Yes, to anyone out of short pants. Yet the Guardian author states this as if it's a startling revelation.

Ah, I thought you were arguing against it.

[Spinal]

The tone of that article is set by the picture of the author holding up American Gods with a big red 'do not' symbol and a scolding finger wag. Any point she has to make now has to battle with her obnoxious condescension.