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Friday, May 4th, 2012
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6:57 pm - Avengers Assemble! Then get naked! (possible spoilers)
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Things I loved enough about the Avengers:
1. Equal Opportunity Ogling: The long slow slide of the camera lens up the lovely back view of Chris Evans (magnificent legs, ass, back and shoulders) was matched by the long slow slide of the camera lens up the lovely back view of Scarlett Johansson (equally magnificent legs, ass, back and shoulders. Usually it's just the woman who gets ogled in superhero movies. Captain America was a treat!
2. Loki flirting with Stark (and vice versa).
3. Cap telling Hulk he could smash.
4. Hulk smashing. Enemies. Aliens. Allies. Out of the blue. Freakin' hilarious.
5. Loki as Hulk's rag doll. Loki-whumping in general.
6. Ironman as Hulk's rescue-cuddle doll.
7. Thor as Hulk's Weeble (weebles wobble but they don't fall down). Thor-whumping in general.
8. Hawkeye, defining awesome.
9. Natasha getting the drop on Loki... then thanking him for it.
10. All the times Thor grabbed Loki by the back of the neck and reaffirmed my impression from Thor's earlier movie that it's a good thing they're adopted siblings, cuz if they're NOT doing it, then they soooo should be.
Also, don't leave before the credits roll...
It was so very good I didn't even mind the headache I got from the two crazy homeless people sitting in front of me (yelping all the way through it, and yes, smelling very badly) or the hyperactive teen sitting on one side of me dripping ice cream on my jeans, or hour I waited in line (and I was the first one there, you betcha!), or the latecomer that shoe-horned himself into the seat on the other side of me. Didn't care. It was great. I want to see it again to hear all the dialog I missed, but ooooh, mercy. It was WORTH it. The reviewers may be right, it was indeed the best superhero movie I've ever seen.
And I want to take Loki home and chain him to my bed. With Thor. And Cap,
Whooooo.
current mood:  jubilant
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| Saturday, March 19th, 2011
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10:41 am - Saturday Morning
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| Saturday, October 9th, 2010
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11:41 am - Why I Love My Condo
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1. It's mine. No more random rent increases flung at me every time I turn around, and now when I fix the crap that breaks, I'm improving my own place and not someone else's 'retirement nest egg'.
2. The pool. I'm up to 40 laps, five days a week. I LOVE IT.
3. The rec room is a polling place. Yup, I can come home from work, vote without having to wander the neighborhood looking for whatever obscure church is housing the election, then go for a swim afterward, before walking back to my condo.
4. 24 hour security. 'Nuff said.
5. I don't have to do yard work, and the place looks great.
6. Just got confirmation from the state that I did qualify for the tax credit - $10,000 over 3 years. Add the federal tax break, and I have enough coming back to pay for any repairs or upgrades I need to do without breaking my tiny piggy bank. WooT!
7. Well worth using the VA benefit for it...
Why didn't I do this sooner? This rocks!
current mood: jubilant
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| Saturday, February 13th, 2010
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9:25 am - snicker
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A couple weeks ago my landlady put a bird feeder up in the sole tree on the grounds - directly in front of my door, about 15 feet away. The birds have now discovered this buffet. A power line runs behind the tree, and the birds line up on the line to await their turn at the seed bar. Several times every morning, a few get pushy and a food fight breaks out.
Cats find few things funnier than a bird fight. My tribe is enthralled, and I can't stop snickering.
current mood: amused
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| Friday, February 12th, 2010
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5:07 pm - A watching week
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What a week for eye candy in (un)expected places. Watched Smallville for the first time since Lex left, to see Michael Shanks as Hawkman - did a credible job with a sad script, and was worth sitting through the convoluted plot and less-than-stellar dialog. He brought pain and anger in by the truckload, and got a little crushed on by Green Arrow and Clark, so worth the watch. But then more eye candy came - Paul Blackthorne showed up as the shadowy bad guy on Leverage (and will be back next week to finish the finale) - good to see ol' Dresden again, even if it wasn't much screen time. The fact he was playing opposite Al Molina (Doc Oc in Spidey 3, and a bajillion other roles) made it meaty as well as pretty. Then a double helping of sweet - Dylan Neal (Mike Celluci in Blood Ties, plus a hundred other roles, including a Ranger on B5) showed up as the bad cop on Human Target (and got to chew quite a bit of scenery - a good showing!), then again in a surprise (to me) as Hermes in the Percy Jackson movie! Looking kinda sheepish 'cuz his kid was the lightning thief, not Percy. Lovely!
Speaking of Percy - I love Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books. I've read all five, and they're a splendid mix of ancient Greek mythology, urban myth, adventure story, and coming-of-age with a young hero who actually matures and 'comes into his own' through the five books, an interesting ensemble with strong supporting characters, and plot lines that carry the suspense and humor all the way through (both each book and the series as a whole). I hope the movie brings in more readers - I know the books brought in viewers, because I went to the first showing this morning, on a weekday, and saw three class groups ranging in age from grade school (boys) to high school (girls), as well as grandmothers with grandkids, single men and women from their twenties into their sixties, and at least one date couple. At ten thirty in the morning on a Thursday. Good crowd. Perhaps more importantly, Chris Columbus did a great job with it, given the drawbacks of any adaptation from a jam-packed novel to a two hour script, and a better one than he did of the first Potter film.
Regarding that - I think the critics wanted Potter version 2, and were pissy because they didn't get it. Too bad for them. Having read the Percy Jackson book series, the Harry Potter book series, and the Twilight series, I can confidently say the Percy Jackson series is the best of the bunch. In Twilight, Bella never matured past the emotional age of thirteen, and there wasn't much in the way of universe-building. In the Potter books, there was a fascinating universe built, but Harry actually regressed in the last two books, and never fulfilled any great potential - when the lesson he learned was to be willing to commit suicide, I can't really count that as great character development. Also, Rowling lost the plot in the last two books - perhaps three - as some characters were so outre (Umbridge, the Carrows) that I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to accept them, and read despite their presence in the stories (not to mention the camping trip that gave me flashes of a second-rate Tolkien having his fellowship wander for years so he could describe the landscape). By the time I finished the Potter series I felt relief, and honestly finished the last one more for completist determination than literary desire.
In contrast, the Percy Jackson books are strong from start to finish. Each book has a self-contained quest, in essence, and the series has an over-arching quest. Percy himself is likable, a hero despite himself, modest, brave, and protective. Grover grows the most of any character in the series, fitting for a sidekick as unique as he. Annabeth has her own journey and I rooted for her all the way, too. Nico and Bianca were heartbreaking and hopeful without ever being sappy. Sally reminded me of my own Mom, and that's a good thing. The gods were drawn very much the way they were in Greek mythology, with all their faults as imposing as they were. The entire pantheon were brought into the picture, along with the Titans, various monsters and creatures, and all seamlessly, and with purpose. All whilst keeping a flow of action across the United States and into Olympus. I would recommend these books to anyone.
The movie did an excellent job of getting the high points across without sacrificing the characters or the quest. Some of the details were different (like how Percy found out who his father was, or how the battle of the flag ended, etc) but were necessary for the script to flow. It still set out everything it needed to begin a series, bring in neophytes and satisfy fans of the books. One warning - EXTRA SCENE during the credits - stick around for it. It plays out differently than in the book, but it was perfect for the movie. Great stuff!
current mood:  surprised
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| Sunday, January 24th, 2010
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1:55 pm - Woah.
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Heya. For those who haven't seen my incarnation as ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) glacis here on LJ, I have to share. Getting stuff ready for uploading to Archive of our Own has forced me to organize the Keep for the first time in... awhile... and I discovered I'd hit a milestone of sorts.
Prior to printing out my 'stories to format' sheet(s), I'd guessed I'd written a couple hundred stories in thirty or so fandoms. Hah.
My fan writing life: 18 years. 58 fandoms. 345 stories.
I feel like I'm in a Numb3rs ep. Splayed out on the pavement with chalk outlining me.
I'm going to spend the next couple months formatting... gulp.
current mood:  indescribable
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, October 17th, 2009
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4:41 pm - OWLish
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| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
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4:24 pm - Yeesh.
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Iran is roiling with political protest.
A major offensive in Afghanistan is putting more US troops in danger than ever.
An area in China that's three times the size of Texas is convulsing with ethnic/religious violence.
Honduras just had a coup.
Obama is having historic meetings with Russian leaders to bring us out of the second cold war.
The pope wants to consolidate the global economy (like it's not, already).
Benin and Brazil are about to be flooded off the map.
Koalas are drinking from bikers' water bottles (and if that isn't a sign of the apocalypse... okay, at least it's REALLY rare).
And what do we get on the news?
Eight solid days of Michael Jackson.
RIDICULOUS. It's no wonder the rest of the world laughs at us as ignoramuses.
current mood:  frustrated
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| Monday, July 6th, 2009
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9:56 pm - Contacts
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Hm, who knew. Just the other day (May 13th, in fact, as it's his birthday) I was wondering what ever happened to my brother Bobby. Then, hey, he contacted me. Through LJ. Guess I should update more than every six months, eh? And hey, his son Patrick, that angelic little blond toddler I remember, is all grown up and looking amazingly like my uncle Vince. And on his facebook photo, he's holding an angelic little blond toddler that looks a heck of a lot like he did over twenty years ago.
I am getting so. freaking. old.
Still, it's nice to make contact with family. A little unnerving, given that my family history has been anything but sunshine and roses, but really kind of nice. The strange thing? My nephew's living in the same town where I was offered a job in 1995. So we might have made contact then if I hadn't taken the job in Texas instead. See what happens when you try to avoid rainy weather and opt for sunshine? An extra decade and a half goes by before contact is once again made. Huh! The even stranger thing? My brother sounds so much like he did in 1986 that it's freaky. I can hear his voice in his email.
Little bemused now. Feeling hopeful and hesitant and happy all at the same time.
Bren, wandering away again
current mood:  nostalgic
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| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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7:31 pm - family
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Bobby - in case you haven't got your settings set up to alert you to responses, check you inbox - I sent a long rambling answer to your message, but I didn't send it to your email, I just responded to what you sent. Good to hear from you!
current mood: surprised
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| Sunday, May 10th, 2009
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10:47 am - Six months later, she'd not dead, Jim.
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Clawing my way out of the black hole (not caused by Red Matter, but by brain matter), I wave at you. And burble.
New!Trek: The way Quinto inserted 'Fascinating' and Urban inserted "I'm a doctor not a..." and Pine didn't believe in no-win scenarios. I think they really got the casting right. Quinto gave me flashbacks to first season Spock, before the lid was clamped down. Pine may look nothing like Shatner, but he has Young and Restless written all over him (in a good way). Urban is eerily reminiscent of DeForrest Kelley, more in the way he moves than anything else (although the voice is GREAT). Saldana did her best, but she was a little weak in the roll - I like take-no-nonsense Uhura, but the actress didn't quite carry if off. Cho didn't quite sell me on Sulu, either. But overall, it worked well. The plot was an excellent way to reset the universe (and unlike most of the plot devices used in the different series, this one I actually bought). Spock Prime rocked... Nimoy tied it all together, both with the way his character 'birthed' the friendship of Kirk and McCoy but also with his gravitas and deep emotion simmering beneath the surface. That's another thing Quinto did well, bringing that conflict into his character. Bana was a more sympathetic psychotic villian than I expected, and the mis-timing of his revenge as the trigger of the universal reset (creating the alternate universe) was very well executed (pun intended).
Things that amused me: Pegg makes a better Scot than he does an Englishman. Saldana actually looks like her Barbie doll, and Pine looks more like his Ken doll than he does the Playmates doll that was actually created with his likeness. Yelchin was an adorable Chekov. I was a little afraid of seeing this movie, but wanted to give it a chance, and I'm glad I did. The best way to look at it is definitely not a re-imagining of the original series, but as literally an alternate dimension, a 'what if' that takes a single character (Kirk), radically changes one element of his backstory (the fate of his father) leading to a very different character. Following that Kirk, as he becomes a leader, and seeing how the other changes affect other characters (Spock's mother, Scotty's failed experiment), make it easy to see this as a different group, not just the same old group in younger bodies. I look forward to the next couple movies - I think this was a great start.
Wolverine: I can only assume that the critics who were disappointed were expecting the humor of Iron Man or the surface gloss of many 'hero' movies. They should have looked at the title. The movie was just what it should have been, considering the main character - grief and pain, followed by kicking ass, followed by a brief bit of happiness and even greater grief and pain, followed by major kicking ass, followed by extreme grief and pain, leading eventually to more kicking ass. It began where it should have, with revelation and heartbreak, and ended where it needed to, with amnesiac Wolverine heading off to cage fight in Canada until Rogue comes along to pull him into the XMen saga. The mini-mutants were well cast, Sabretooth was exceptional, Gambit ROCKED (need more Gambit!), and the story actually made sense. Jackman was incredible, not just with the insane body building (although that made my jaw drop a few times) but also in the tender moments, and the epiphanies, and the grief-pain-heartache. He really put his heart into this one, as well as his body, and that made the movie flow.
And hey, next week, Angels and Demons! I didn't see the first movie, because honestly the author is a hack, but this one has Ewan McGregor in a cassock. There's something about Scotsmen. Put 'em in a dress, be it a kilt or a cassock, and hoo-YAH. I'm there.
Book bits: just finished Carrie Fisher's autobiography (Wishful Drinking) that cheerfully illustrated that if you can't laugh at your pain, it will kill you. To balance that out, I've been delving into Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver books (just finished Little Tiny Teeth) - interesting to read about crime solving from the perspective of a forensics prof (the Skeleton Detective - snicker), plus it's set in Washington State, where I went to grad school the first time, and his plots are always twisty and interesting and well-researched. For fun, and because I'm in withdrawal, the BBC Dr Who and Torchwood books have been meeting my sexy immortals story needs. I have carefully hoarded two Jim Butcher novels and a graphic novel, so sometime soon I'm going to take a weekend and delve into Dresden's world again.
TV bits: Unexpected but true - I really like Callen and Sam on NCIS OSP. I'll watch it, because I like Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J make an outstanding partnership. On NBC, I can't believe they're dicking around with renewing Chuck - Leno has a lot to answer for, taking five hours of prime time away from scripted shows. I always did like Letterman better than Leno, and now I wouldn't watch Leno if they paid me. Over on CBS, the only reason I can think that they aren't moving on renewing Eleventh Hour is that some suit somewhere hates the show. It was the second best performer of the new dramas, and the first was Mentalist, which outperformed every other new show from all the outlets, so one would think that would be enough to get Eleventh Hour renewed. Darn it, I like that show! It doesn't even have the excuse ABC used when they canceled Pushing Daisies (the twits!), because it's a procedural with science elements, not quirky or daring or strange - just GOOD. Idiots.
I was looking forward to trundling out and seeing friends yesterday... then the 'dorks with tools' who call themselves plumbers who are 'working' (?) on the unit beside mine parked their truck directly in front of my garage and trapped me. Then they disappeared. For five hours. I tried calling my landlady, but she didn't answer her phone. By the time the jerks finally came back and moved their stupid truck, it was too late to go anywhere. Late last night I heard my landlady come by and retrieve the key... maybe she's tired of them, too. I hope. They've been tearing things up next door since September and are not even close to finishing. I'm just waiting for the fools to break a line or something under my living room, then I'll have to move so they can tear up this unit too. So freakin' tired of this.
Thank God for books and movies and tv or I'd be staring at the wall wondering where I could find some scotch. You may have noticed I didn't mention work... trying not to think about it. Augh.
Later, gators.
current mood: moody
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| Sunday, December 14th, 2008
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8:27 am - Wow!
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What a difference a new modem makes! It actually loads pictures without timing out! And it's less than a quarter the size of the last one! It's smaller than my little plug-in answering machine (that seldom actually works)!
Hmmm. Perhaps the miniaturization is a clue that my old modem was, well, pretty darned old.
And maybe I should look into a new little answering machine.
But first, I must find a floor lamp, because my kitchen light is on the blink (again). Given that my heater only works part of the time (and tries to gas me on a regular basis), my plumbing is more temperamental than a top ten diva, my oven only works when I open the broiler and blow on the tubes to make the gas ignite, my towel racks are falling off the wall, my shower leaks, my door and windows are leakier than an industrial sieve, my hard drive is close to death, I only have one jury-rigged telephone line supporting a modem, two telephones and an answering machine (splitters are my friend), and the last time I called to add a cable line, my landlady had to go to the company office with paperwork to approve the damned thing, I think I'll do my usual, and find a work-around. If I ask for anything to be fixed, my rent will go up. Can you tell I'm a little tired of things NOT WORKING?
Sigh. Thank you for anyone who had the kindness (or was bored enough) to read my vent. Feeling better now. Off to Target, Ikea, Lamps Plus or someplace to get some light so I'm not washing dishes in the dark (again).
Happy Sunday!
current mood: frustrated
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| Monday, December 8th, 2008
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10:08 am - Hmmm, sorcery...
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| Thursday, December 4th, 2008
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11:06 am - who am I? in Dewey, anyway
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Saw this, thought it was cute... wiling my lunch half-hour away...
brenda antrim's Dewey Decimal Section:
759 Historical, geographic & persons treatment
brenda antrim = 285441140893 = 285+441+140+893 = 1759
Class:
700 Arts & Recreation
Contains:
Architecture, drawing, painting, music, sports.
What it says about you:
You're creative and fun, and you're good at motivating the people around you. You're attracted to things that are visually interesting. Other people might not always understand your taste or style, but it's yours.
Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com
or maybe
brenda antrim's Dewey Decimal Section:
082 Collections in English
brenda antrim's birthday: 1/19/1963 = 119+1963 = 2082
Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works
Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.
What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.
Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com
My "own style" and "stubborn"... yeah, sounds like me... heh.
current mood:  curious
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| Friday, November 28th, 2008
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8:28 pm - Stories and other things for which I'm thankful
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Sheesh, it's almost December already. How'd that happen?
Anyway, new story up at the Keep and the glacis journal. It's for the Mentalist, Cho/Jane, fun of the anti-insomnia sort. (nc17 slash, of course).
My modem's trying to die (have to turn it on and off a half dozen times before it actually connects) and my hard drive is about to die (sigh) so my email's been iffy and my brain's been drained by techie pain. Which, because I'm apparently a masochist, led me to think of all the things for which I give thanks. This, because I'm apparently a sadist too, led me to want to share them with anyone crazy enough to read my ramblings.
So. Things for which I shout THANK YOU in an internal silent mental sort of way:
My friends. Who still like me even when I turn hermit for months and pop up at odd hours burbling enthusiastically about nonsense. I have the most fascinating family of friends. I love you!
My cats. The reason I come home at night (and sometimes, the reason I go to work in the morning). Three very different bundles of furry fury who show me they love me in a myriad of ways, from head butts to whisker kisses to graciously puking on the carpet instead of in my shoes.
My job. A neighbor was recently laid off with one week's notice from a job she'd worked faithfully for 28 years. While I may sometimes bitch about the daily grind, I do enjoy my work, the people I work with and for, and the dual facts that I have tenure and a down-turned economy is job security for community college faculty.
My health. I can still work, talk, think, see, hear, feel, create, type, walk, breathe and teach. I need to lose weight, and various organs are grinding a little painfully, but the temple has not yet crumbled. Yay!
My past. While I may not have my Mom, or Dad, or any contact with surviving family (this is by choice), the memories of the good folks who loved me, supported me, kicked me in the butt when I needed it and hugged me often, give me the strength and pig-headedness to live and enjoy my life.
My faith. Yes, I have one, and it's not the majority in this country (or anywhere, really), but following the Path had given me a peace I couldn't have without it.
Fandom. Thousands of people, most of whom I've never met, that I already like. Bonding over pretty men doing slashy and/or angsty things (usually to one another). Fans keep me as sane as I get. Plus, fannish fabulousness was a big part of my thesis. Did I mention (as I seem to blurt to everyone I meet) that I finished my second Master's degree (in communication critical studies) and did my thesis on Stargate (specifically gender role displacement using Daniel as the focal point and how fans make meaning of his embodiment of the third gender)? Well, if I hadn't, I have now. (snicker)
My fellow vets, and all the active duty folk putting their lives on the line every day (and night) in the hell spots around the world. The economy wouldn't be tanking so badly if we weren't flushing billions of dollars down the toilet on undeclared wars on two fronts, and the waste of lives is incredible (military and civilian). My thoughts and prayers are with the service people and their families this Thanksgiving. Thank you. More than I can say. May the good Goddess grant you a homecoming sooner rather than later.
My freedom. So much could go wrong, and is, for so many people. I've got a life filled with blessings (see above for some of the greatest) and I am thankful for it every day I breathe.
And finally, Dreyer's coconut fruit bars and diet coke, because everybody has to have an addiction.
current mood: grateful
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| Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
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7:34 pm - pain.
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another three hours in the dentist's chamber today - got a whole new definition of 'triple crown' - used to be a bridge was a fake tooth with wire hooks that connected it to the tooth on either side. Now it's a fake tooth - a crown - connected to TWO CROWNS on either side of it. Yes, they file down two perfectly good teeth and put crowns on them so the bridge is three crowns all connected in one piece. I guess it's a lot sturdier than the old way, but holy freakin' crucio-cows, man, OUCH.
My dentist said I was 'very good' - almost expected a lollipop. She has no idea the aspersions I cast, in the silence of my anguished brain, on her breeding, mating habits, professional competency and swimming depth in the gene pool; probably just as well given how many shots she had to give me (I don't numb well). I now have an amazingly ugly but quite functional temporary triple crown, awaiting the verdict on whether this procedure screwed up the nerves in the previously good teeth (if so, that's another root canal or two - gaaaaaaaaah), then the permanent triple crown in two weeks.
My gums feel like they've been through a meat grinder. My cats are wondering why I'm stoned on Advil and not talking to them.
If I were a horse, I'd be glue by now.
Tomorrow, the eye doctor!
God, I love "vacation." sniff.
current mood:  drained
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| Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
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12:40 pm - what quake?
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Guess I'm a serious shopper after all. It's the beginning of my 'vacation' (or whatever you call unpaid time between work) and I'm off on a towel hunt (difficult to find the exact shade of green to match my shower curtain) when I go up to the counter and find the salesclerk looking like somebody ran over her dog.
I quickly ask her if she's okay and she says, "There was an earthquake!" I'm thinking it was in Japan or something and her family's been hurt, so I ask, "Where? When?" She looks at me like I'm an idiot and says "Right here! Just now!"
I find to my complete surprise that we just had a 5.8 earthquake (or 5.4, some debate in the news outlets). Seems the floor shook and the shelves swayed. The floor I was walking on and the shelves holding the towels I was examining... and I didn't notice.
Even funnier? When I got home, my cats, who usually start running up the walls BEFORE a temblor hits... slept through it.
Huh. Guess that towel-color-matching thang was really engrossing. (blink)
current mood: surprised
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| Friday, January 11th, 2008
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5:39 pm - blink...
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okay, so i'm sitting here hashing out the outline for my thesis and realize i've been discussing how lacanian imaginary and freud's oedipal theory both assume the centrality of the masculine figure, and how that plays into butler's idea that having no words for a non-dichotomous sexual identity essentially erases any concept but male or female from the collective culture making it effectively impossible to conceptualize a third gender, especially in the english language with its heavily bipolar structure... when my audience meowed loudly at me and i realized i should probably feed my cats instead of brainstorming with them...
so maybe i'll go watch the new eps of moonlighting and numb3rs and stop thinking for a little while...
current mood: grumpy
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| Friday, January 4th, 2008
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7:29 pm - Good God, it's 2008 already
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How'd that happen?
Listening to the wind howl and the rain slash down (heh), hoping the lights don't go out. Am taking a month off to work intensely on my thesis, hope to defend come Spring. Last paper apparently went well (death and resurrection in SG-1) - lovely thesis chair suggested I tweak it for submission to the grad school journal, and present at the Spring scholarly competition - shocked the tar out of me, but hey, it was a lot of fun to write, so I'm game to go with it. Am currently bouncing like a ping pong ball between:
gender (Judith Butler, mainly)
philosophy (Foucault and Wittgenstein)
literary criticism (specifically scifi, but also storytelling in TV. recs: Reading Television by John Fiske and John Hartley; Quality Popular Television, edited by Mark Jancovich and James Lyons)
cultural studies (mainly tv emphasis. recs: Hop on Pop: the politics and pleasures of popular culture, edited by Jenkins, McPherson and Shattuc; The Wow Climax: tracing the emotional impact of popular culture by Henry Jenkins)
gay history (recs: Queering Teen Culture: All American Boys and Same-Sex Desire in Film and Television by Jeffery Dennis; Prime Time Closet: a history of gays and lesbians on TV by Stephen Tropiano; Gay TV and Straight America by Ron Becker)
fandom (recs: Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet, edited by Hellekson and Busse; The Adoring Audience: fan culture and popular media, edited by Lisa Lewis, Fan Cultures by Matt Hill, Theorizing Fandom: Fans, subculture and identity edited by Harris and Alexander)
and cybercommunity (recs: Virtual Culture: identity and communication in cybersociety edited by Steven Jones; Life on the Screen: identity in the age of the internet by Sherry Turkle; The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory edited by Herman and Swiss - more for historical analysis since we're into web 2.0 now; Convergence Culture: where old and new media collide by Henry Jenkins, again)
Those are some that I've found most useful so far; have more to check out. Got a ton of journal articles (or at least it feels like it!) to put into the puzzle, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this. Now I just have to buckle down and start writing - funny thing one of my professors said awhile back -- you find yourself doing housework, or anything else, to put off the writing... and I love to write. But there are so many different pieces of the puzzle, and I want them ALL in there, and they won't all fit... Darned good thing I've got such a great thesis committee. Historians, a cultural studies person, a semiologist, a political economist; they'll keep me from running off madly in all directions.
Anyway, babbling done, lights are flickering - hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday, and welcome to 2008!!
current mood: geeky
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, November 15th, 2007
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9:39 pm - snicker
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while taking a break and trying to find a treat (it's TOUGH to find Thomas slash!) grokked this from somebody (matrixrefugee? i think) and had to share...
Which Dresden Files Character Are You?
Harry Dresden! You're a good man and a good wizard. You've had a lot of problems in your life, but you're making your way in the world, always ready to accept new challenges in order to help your friends whenever they need it. You're truly an inspiring individual. Just cut the pyromania down a bit.
Take this quiz!
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On a happy side note, prospectus is now successfully defended, member on committee exchanged (I have a great committee -- all coming from different angles and giving me the most useful input), and thesis writing is set to begin next month, soon as my current seminar is complete. WooT!
Someday when my brain can switch between research and smut again, I'm going to write that Thomas/Ardeth Dresden/Mummy crossover... the brain boggles at the pretty.
current mood: silly
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(comment on this)
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lazy
