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Time for some nostalgia!
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Sep. 16th, 2012 @ 03:18 pm
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So recently, due to an event which will get its own JF writeup in the very near future, I've suddenly felt compelled to revisit my two first fandoms-- Invader ZIM and The Phantom of the Opera. And to kick off this high-school/early college nostalgia trip, I decided to rewatch all of ZIM, including a couple of episodes that I'd originally missed due to Nickelodeon's weird scheduling and air dates near the end of the show's run.
For those of you who missed it, ZIM was a very.... very strange show created by Jhonen Vasquez, who is kind of like Tim Burton's evil twin brother. They have a similarly dark aesthetic, but I think Vasquez takes it further than Burton usually does. Most of Burton's movies, while dark and creepy, are still family friendly. ZIM, though.... well, I'm amazed Nickelodeon aired it at all, to be honest. Let's not even get into Vasquez's comic book series.
Today I'm going to watch the pilot episode. I haven't seen this show since at least my freshman year of college, let's do this!
( Episode 1x01, The Nightmare Begins )
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TRON: Uprising!
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May. 18th, 2012 @ 12:48 pm
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Here's an in-depth followup to my brief review post last night!
( Read more... )
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WELL WELL WELL!
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May. 16th, 2012 @ 10:05 pm
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I just watched the first episode of TRON: Uprising and I have to say, Disney has an interesting show on their hands!
( Cut for one minor spoiler )
In other news, the Zumba fun continues in full force! I went to another class tonight with a different instructor-- new-ish guy who's only been teaching for a year, but he's great. And I might have a ridiculous crush on him or something WHAT WHO SAID THAT LIES AND SLANDER. Anyway, I'd mentioned to him in a Facebook message that I was working on some new Zumba choreography and he suggested I demonstrate it for him during class this week. So before class he put on the song that I'm using and I started my routine, and then after a few second he jumped in with me and was dancing to my choreo with me. HOW ABOUT YES.
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KOOOOOOOOORRRAAAAAA
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Mar. 24th, 2012 @ 11:11 pm
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So if you didn't hear, the first two episodes of Legend of Korra have been airing this weekend on Korra Nation. And I just finished watching them. Reaction?
FLAWLESS PERFECTION. More coherent thoughts to come later. For now, all I have is uncontrollable flailing.
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*incoherent flailing*
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Dec. 3rd, 2011 @ 07:47 pm
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OMG YOU GUYS OMG LEGEND OF KORRA OPENING TITLES
HOLY SHIT
I CANNOT COPE WITH HOW AWESOME THIS SHOW IS GOING TO BE?????
MY EMOTIONS ARE RUNNING WIIIIIILD
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Korra thoughts
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Sep. 4th, 2011 @ 06:10 pm
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So if you've spent any time at all in the Avatar fandom lately, you've probably seen at least a few of these people who're like, "OMG Korra looks like a man! She's too muscular! Gross!" And you've probably seen the people defending her muscles too.
Personally, both sides are beginning to annoy me.
( Read more... )
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Okay, what the hell, shippers
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Jun. 28th, 2011 @ 08:49 pm
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It seems to me that Zutara shippers have this thing for making Katara subordinate to Zuko. They seem to enjoy putting him in a position of power over her and it creeps me right the hell out. Actually, it's not just Katara. I've seen tons of Zuko/OC fics where he is again put in a position of power over his love interest.
But seriously, these tropes comprise at least 70% of all the Zutara fics I see on FFn. Katara is Zuko's prisoner, she's his hostage, she's his servant, she's his slave, she's his concubine. He captures her during the course of the series, someone else captures her and gives her to him as a prize/reward. There are AUs where Katara was raised as a servant in the Fire Nation royal palace. There are AUs where he's an Arabian prince and she is his concubine... again. There are AUs where he buys her as a slave for one reason or another.
....You get the picture. And most if not all of these tropes apply to Zuko/OC fics as well. I know that we're not supposed to judge people's fictional interests and Your Kink Is Not My Kink and all, but you know what? This trend creeps me out. It is creepy to me. I find it gross. It's especially creepy, given Katara's canon personality of being strong and independent: it carries some very Unfortunate Implications when these fans are pushing her into the traditional gender role of female=subordinate to male.
If that means I'm judging someone or not being open-minded enough, then LOLOLOL OH WELL.
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LOL nevermind.
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May. 31st, 2011 @ 09:26 pm
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I said I was done talking about Failbender but I forgot something. THE HORRIBLE LACK OF LOGIC OH MY GOD.
( Read more... )
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Well, I finally did it.
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May. 31st, 2011 @ 08:24 pm
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Yes, I finally sat down and watched... The Last Airbender. Quantumreality and I did a kind of two-person liveblog over Yahoo Messenger yesterday, wherein we both LOLed and facepalmed and cringed mightily.
So, here are my thoughts on Failbender. In a word? Bland.
( Read more... )
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More random fandom thoughts
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Mar. 29th, 2011 @ 12:02 am
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I was browsing the tron_slash comm on LJ just now, and as I was scrolling past the entry for a Kevin Flynn/Sam Flynn fic, I saw this in the summary above the LJ cut:
Warnings: Flynncest, spanking, rimming and cum eating
Disclaimer: If I owned Tron: Legacy, this would have gone into the movie.
I'm always sort of amused in a scared way when I see disclaimers like that on really disturbing/just plain bad fanfics. "If I owned this series/book/movie, this would totally have happened!!!" It always sounds vaguely like a threat. :P
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Here, have another
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Mar. 21st, 2011 @ 01:32 pm
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I'm in a bad mood today. Thus, more fanfic ranting.
This rant is about another really annoying fanfic trope, one found again in shippy fics: the "Inner Voice". Y'all know what I mean.
( Read more... )
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Another fanfic rant
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Mar. 21st, 2011 @ 12:46 pm
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Attention all ATLA fanfic writers:
There is nothing unusual about wanting to protect one's friends. Being concerned when your friend is in danger is not necessarily a sign of ~Tru Luv~. Nor is risking your life to save a friend from mortal peril. "I love you and I want your babies" is not the only reason put your life on the line for someone else's safety.
If my best friend was in danger, I would put my life at risk to save her. Not because I'm madly in love with her, but because she is my best friend and I care about her safety. She is important to me. I have known her my entire life. She is like a sister to me. One person can be important to another person without those two people being in love.
And I'm not just talking about Zutarans this time; although, from what I've seen, Zutara shippers tend to be the greatest perpetrators of this nonsense in our fandom. Zuko must have been in love with Katara, because why else would he risk his life for her? And if Katara wasn't in love with Zuko, then why was she crying after she healed him? And why was she so upset after he got hit? (Oh, gee, IDK. Maybe because she was afraid of losing her newfound friend? Just sayin', I'd be crying pretty hard if my BFF got hit by lightning. Especially if she did it to protect me. Or maybe because his brave sacrifice moved her to tears?)
No, this goes for Kataangers as well. As a specific example of this trend: I just stumbled across a Kataang fic that starts with Zuko and Katara waiting for Aang to come back from fighting Ozai. Zuko comments that Aang is definitely coming back alive, because he has Katara to protect. Katara gets all flustered and is like, "Aang wants to protect me??? Gee, I knew he had a crush, but I never knew he cared that deeply!" As though Aang wanting to protect a person he cares about is something out of the ordinary.
Yes, Aang was in love with Katara. But that's not the only reason why he should want to protect her. And Katara would damn well know that, so she wouldn't be surprised by him wanting to protect her. Aang has gone out of his way and put his life at risk to protect complete strangers, as well as Katara and his friends.
Or was he secretly in love with Aunt Wu and every single one of those villagers when he placed himself between them and an erupting volcano in "The Fortuneteller"?
I've seen this with other pairings, too, but specific examples don't come to mind at the moment.
Fandom, it seems, has decided long ago that "Character A expresses concern for Character B" is a sign of undying love, regardless of whether there has been any sign of attraction between those characters. And even with characters who are clearly attracted to each other, that attraction becomes the only reason for A to be worried about B. It makes me annoyed to see fandom devaluing friendship/familial love like this.
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~*~Pretty pretty princess~*~
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Mar. 1st, 2011 @ 11:03 pm
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Okay, where did fandom get this idea that Katara is a princess? I guess it's sort of true, what with Hakoda being the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe and all, but... really, fandom, take a look at the SWT as we see it during the series. Does this look like a place that gives a shit about fancy titles like "Princess"? No. It might have been that way back in Gran-Gran's day, but almost certainly not during Katara's childhood. If Katara really is a Princess of the SWT, it's by technicality only. What, Katara's not cool enough as a self-taught Waterbender, and the only one left in her entire tribe? She's not cool enough as a martial arts master who can kick just about anyone's ass by the end of the series? She's not cool enough as a strong, capable girl who's good at making the best of a bad situation? She has to be a ~*~Princess~*~ too?
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Oh, ATLA!
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Feb. 10th, 2011 @ 12:07 am
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You gotta love the ATLA animators, I mean really. They're just amazing, and I feel like writing a brief love post in their honor even though I should be sleeping.
( Read more... )
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Ranting time
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Jul. 12th, 2010 @ 04:03 pm
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Dear fandom:
Kindly shut up about the age gap between Katara and Aang. Yeah, she's two whole years older than Aang! Oh no! (And yet, a two-year gap doesn't seem to be a problem when Zuko's the elder of the pair. Nice double standards you got there.)
Yes, I've heard the "girls mature faster than boys" thing. Yes, if it's true (show me some science, plz) then that probably would stop your average 14-year old girl from being interested in your average 12-year-old boy. But these aren't your average kids, are they?
No, Aang isn't a perfect picture of maturity and responsibility. But guess what? Neither is Katara! She has her fair share of petty, childish moments. But they both do a damn good job of handling the massive responsibilities that have fallen onto their young shoulders, despite their youth. They both grow up in a hurry. And hey, Katara even mentions this in the Day of Black Sun part 1! She tells Aang that he's no longer the goofy little kid she found in the ice. In other words, he's growing up. So that scene you all smugly write into your nonsensical post-canon fics, where Katara bemoans Aang's childishness, and vents about how he's always shirking his Avatarly responsibilities and how he hasn't matured at all since she met him? Yeah, take it and shove it.
Yours never,
Ayala
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Schoolwork and fandom
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May. 12th, 2010 @ 01:14 pm
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Whew! I just finished the rough draft of my Big Research Paper for one of my classes. It's due at 5, so now I have some time to relax before class, as it's only 1:15.
( Read more... )
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Random thought on the ATLA fandom
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May. 3rd, 2010 @ 08:25 pm
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I was reading the recent post on STFU about Harmoanians and Bella/Edward shippers, and something occurred to me:
I've seen numerous fans say that they started watching the series solely because of Zutara. I don't know how much of that is exaggeration or hyperbole, but whatever. The thing is, I've never seen anyone say the same thing about Katara/Aang, or in fact any other possible or actual pairing in the series.
EDIT: Oh, I just realized why I made that connection in my head. It seems like a lot of Harmoanians were the same way??? They were only interested in HP because of their ship?????? IDK
Also, speaking of Katara/Aang: in avatarspirit.net's discussion post for "The Ember Island Players", I saw tons of shippers pissed off at Katara for having the audacity to be confused about her feelings for Aang. One of them wanted to, and I quote, "shank Katara in the face" for it. Yes, how dare a 14-year-old on the front lines of a century-long war be confused about her feelings for The Chosen One, who is mere days away from doing battle with, and possibly dying at the hands of, the most dangerous person on the planet!
¯\(O_o)/¯
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My thoughts on yaoi, let me show you them!
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Apr. 28th, 2010 @ 12:18 pm
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I was just reading this post on the STFU and thinking that Harry Potter and ATLA have one really big thing in common-- both have fandoms that try to make the source material far more complicated than it actually is. What sparked this realization was this comment from ekaterinv:
Here's where she's confused: she thinks that being able to see the words means reading them. When obviously, she hasn't actually read them. HP is really very, very easy to understand, but perhaps she should go back to The Poky Little Puppy and work her way up from there. (I'm feeling extra-snarky today.)
Certain subsets of the HP fandom (Harmoanians, Snapefen) seem to think that the books/movies are really deep and complex, when they aren't really. They have twists and turns, to be sure, but I don't think they were ever meant to be the Deep Literary Masterpieces that these fen wanted them to be. Specifically, I'm recalling the Harmoanians who thought the books were going to be this grand, sweeping, "Austen-esque" romance of the century and were shocked, SHOCKED, when the pairings in the books turned out to be pretty standard and straight-forward.
Similarly, I've seen lots of disgruntled fans over on avatarspirit.net who criticize Mike&Bryan for the portrayal of war in the series. They say it was too neat, too bloodless-- too sanitized. Not brutal enough, basically. They wanted a darker, nastier, more "realistic" portrayal of the 100-year war. They wanted people to die in the finale. I think what they really wanted was something more like the LOTR films.
What they forgot is that ATLA is a show intended for a younger audience. It is and always was a show for kids/teens, albeit an extremely well-written one. It's true that the writing started to take a more mature tone near the end of Book 1-- the writers realized that the show's audience was skewing older than they'd initially assumed it would. The series was meant to appeal to boys between the ages of 7 and 11 or thereabouts, but somewhere in Book 1, they took a look at the ages of the people who were actually watching the show and realized that the audience was mostly teens. But even after the writing style shifted to reflect this, it was still never intended to be A Very Serious War Story For Grown-Ups.
...Yeah, I don't really have a point here. I'm just babbling. ^_^
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Following up on the previous post
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Apr. 24th, 2010 @ 03:16 pm
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So, my thoughts on the Kuei/Toph fanfics:
( Read more... )
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Just finished a rewatch of Book 2
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Apr. 20th, 2010 @ 11:34 am
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Some fun things I noticed:
( Cut for screencap )
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