The HMS Dark Unknown

Raptor D Rapticon, Sr

2009-11-16T21:26:18Z

After some N.E.W.T. Orientation, they started transfiguring an apple to a mango which was hard since you must change the color of the red apple to a yellow one. Ron had so much difficulty he changed his apple to a red mango that made Harry sick. It looked like someone pour blood on it. Hermione had no difficulty, like always, she perfectly changed her apple to a yellow mango earning her ten points to Gryffindor.

“How did you do that?” said Ron as they went down to the Greenhouses for Herbology.

“I learn Ron, not ask” said Hermione as they stopped at the entrance of the greenhouse since it was occupied by second years.

How many times have I read Quaffles, Anyone? and why am I reading it again?

To anyone who knows -

2009-09-14T17:50:30Z

Is there a Thing in academic SPN fandom that explains the super hostile reaction to this comment? Because I don't understand why "They don't need to use the language of rape with the female characters ... because they use the imagery" = "Suggesting that the imagery of Ruby's death is more problematic than Zachariah's torturous attempted coercion of Dean" unless there's more background there. And then the less hostile but still oddly cold response to this comment.

More rambling about Austen movies, you have been warned

2009-08-19T16:00:56Z

I wonder if the intense hatred period movie fans have for certain period movies is related to the fact that there is little fanfic for the fandoms? I mean, Lost in Austen, right, all the changes are viewed by a lot of people as heresy because Wickham is sympathetic and Caroline is a lesbian and ... I forget what else went on there, it's been a while, I guess drunk!Bingley counts. P&P fic is pretty much all sequels, though, there aren't shipper factions or people determined to side with the villain or fic with intentional genre changes (from romance to darkfic, from dark to fluff, etc.), so when it pops up in a movie it's more shocking. Plus since these are movies, visual changes such as curvy Jennifer Ehle to skinny Keira Knightley and, frankly, older actors to actors who are the right ages for their parts can seem as harsh as a characterization change.

On the other hand, there are people in regular fandoms who also have intense hatred for some of the newer versions. Hm. But the majority do seem to be straight-up Austenfen.

Really, I only harp on this subject because I don't understand it. Maybe I'll ask on my lj for someone to please explain, Knightley aside, what is so horrible about P&P05?

lol vaudree

2009-08-09T15:01:18Z

Guys, I cannot stop reading the ever-so-kindly-named "Dual Interpretations" thread.

Vaudree: All that indicates is that she heard the Marauder’s side of the story (either directly from them or from someone else) since the last time she talked to Snape. So we are in the same place where Snape could have entertained the theory concerning Lupin being a werewolf before or after he went down there.

Wendall: I don't really understand your theory about Snape only starting to theorise about Lupin being a werewolf after the whomping willow incident. He knew Lupin was a werewolf after this, it wasn't just a theory. He saw Lupin going in, he saw a werewolf in the shrieking shack, Dumbledore made him promise not to tell anybody that Lupin was a werewolf.

Vaudree: I never said that WickedBoy cannot come up with a theory - there is still the Scottish book. I don’t know whether Snape came up with his Lupin is a werewolf theory before or after the Shack Attack – the book doesn’t say. To say one way or the other is to make a theory – to make a prediction – as to what the Scottish book will reveal. Six months after the Scottish Book, discussion of the series will be truly over. [whining about Jo writing next-gen books]

It's just so pointless and stupid, yet I still can't stop! Here, I'll give you a little bit more of a post of Vaudree's.

Never really understood why Ron felt more threatened by Cormac than by Neville – what do you think JKR was trying to show with that?

Cormac went out for Ron's place on the team and actively went after Hermione. Neville liked Herbology. Why do you think he felt more threatened by the former?

can’t see HBP until it goes to Video but my son said that the movie was completely different than the book but Steven Van Ark says that basically they are the same.

esclaramonde @ 2009-08-06T13:34:00

2009-08-06T17:40:57Z

Maybe I should unjoin all of my comms on JF aside from the STFU and Sparklefield. I feel like they just ... bring out the worst in me. I'm going to try a filter for now that just blocks out the f_w umbrella comms (plus UFB, since there's such a large crossover) and see how that goes.

ETA: Incidentally, it's very annoying to be worried about a comment you're waiting for and then see you've got a new JF email and then it's just freaking spam.

They were a bit mean to DanRad :(

2009-07-19T13:15:50Z

I just read the NYT review of the HBP movie and remembered the comment that critics were afraid to say anything negative about the series because it would hurt sales. El oh el.

esclaramonde @ 2009-06-28T13:18:00

2009-06-28T17:36:35Z

I just don't get some reactions to this warnings wank. I mean, I can understand being annoyed at the way the argument gets framed into such extremes. I can understand Oulangi's comment about "rape cred" (even if I don't like the phrasing and I don't think that's happening, at least I haven't seen it anywhere). What I can't understand is a) saying that it demeans RaceFail (which I've seen twice) to use words like oppression, privilege, etc. and b) acting as though both sides are being equally wanky, when there's nobody like cyatinite or aukestral on the pro-warnings side.

I don't particularly care whether or not that ban list is grudgy or an evil, evil blacklist - personally? I've already banned everyone I've seen say things I found offensive and/or cruel from my journal, even though there's a 0.001% chance of any of them ever trying to comment on my LJ. I don't even know whether people get notified when they're banned and they're all totally confused over who this nonentity is. If I want to ban you forever and think of you as "that jerkass who thinks etc.", I will.

I don't think the people who make posts like this a assholes (people who make comments like this are, though). I just feel like they're trying to be callous, which I don't understand.

Huh

2009-06-25T18:05:28Z

Robustitude is all the time now.

ETA: When I hit post, I got the Sorry page.

lol newspaper comics

2009-06-09T23:12:02Z

The Washington Post asks about whether or not religion should be in comics. Go forth and post your own thoughts!

You have to register, though, which is why I haven't commented yet.

Cranky Austenfan Post

2009-06-05T21:16:58Z

I find it interesting that while the Editrix says that the discussion (in Jane's Fame) of modern Austen fandom is "shallow and imperceptive", she doesn't give any examples or explanations. Also, there's this:

While the media likes to portray Janeites as a homogeneous group of tea-sipping, cat-stroking, bonnet-wearing, rather silly ladies of a Certain Age who swoon as one the words “wet shirt” and pay little attention to the Serious Themes of Jane Austen’s novels ...

I'm pretty sure that part of the reason (aside from simple ignorance) the view persists is that every single film adaptation made after 1995 is scrutinized endlessly and usually critiqued for being too sexy. It's all right for the Garson/Olivier version to radically change the plot, but god forbid Isabella go beyond flirting and actually sleep with Capt. Tilney to try to get engaged to him! Maybe if people could just relax a bit, other people wouldn't feel the need to distance themselves from the fandom.

No prizes for guessing

2009-05-08T21:15:13Z

I really ought to be writing any one of the four papers I have due next week instead of reading very old meta, but it was so wonderful to come across this old gem:

See, I'm a ceremonial magician, and I don't believe in "Dark Magick". Magick is good or evil in RL or in fantasy novels depending on what you do with it. [...]

This is why, in HoIF, [Dumbledore] writes off Juliana. Because she will never, ever be loyal to him even though she wants to do good and serves Tom out of a sincere belief that he is good.

And this is why, in canon, he writes off the entire house of Slytherin except Snape, and does nothing to change their view of the world. Because no matter whether they are good or evil in the end, they will never be his creatures.

And I loathe him for that.

And I think this is evil. No matter whether his ultimate cause is good or not.

As a true-sorted Slytherin, I'm not going to say that the ends never justify the means, but what I will say is that if the means you have to use to get the end destroy or invalidate the end you are trying to reach, your priorities and your cost-benefit ratio are ultimately screwy.

I am the biggest loser

2009-05-07T01:59:25Z

So I took terri_testing's A Gray Rat and reworked it during class today into something I found more IC. Since hers only has Peter's dialogue, I'm only showing his half of the conversations - but I found it easier to get something closer to realism by actually writing both halves, so I'm putting that in white and you can highlight if you want to read it.

*rereads* Nope, still crappy.

It's just … at the last few attacks, the Death Eaters seemed like they knew a little too much. Dumbledore thinks someone in the Order's passing information.

“Dumbledore's got to be wrong, Padfoot. Maybe Caradoc let something slip to one of his girlfriends. Just because some information's got out doesn't mean that there's a, you know, a spy!”

I don't want to think it either, but he's right. They knew exactly where we were Apparating to, and how many of us there'd be. I can't think of who it'd be, though – nobody exactly seems like they're spying, right?

“Well, if they were spying … they wouldn't act like it, would they? At least we can mostly tell who it isn't, right?”

I guess. But James reckons it'd be someone who's got something to gain from Voldemort.

“That makes sense. Listen, Moony has seemed a little distant lately, hasn’t he? D'you know if he's all right?”

He hasn't said anything, but then he never does, really.

“Remember how he used to pretend his mother was sick? At least he's not even trying that now.”

Yeah.

“He always used to hang back, didn’t he? I'm not saying anything, but he's never really been … one of us. Tried to talk us out of some of our best pranks, even pulled prefect once or twice. Sometimes I think he'd rather have been alone than with us.”

Wait, what are you –

“I just wonder if Moony ever really appreciated you and Prongs. But of course he wouldn't betray us.”

i.v

Peter, have you talked to Sirius lately?

“Yeah, Padfoot came around the other day. Why, haven't you seen him lately?”

He's been sort of … odd. Giving me weird looks. I'm sure it's nothing.

“Well, the two of you've never really been close, have you? Not that I've ever been that close to him, either. You can take the Black out of Grimmauld Place, but you can't take the Grimmauld Place out of the Black, right?”

I just … I thought he got over my, you know, problem ages ago. This is like second year all over again, when he thought I'd burst out of my skin in the middle of the dorm.

“Who can ever tell with him? But he's been kind of distant to me, too, really, and Lily's seemed worried about him. The whole thing with his brother, you know.”

Have you heard about what Dumbledore thinks? About someone passing information?

“Yeah, I heard. I've been thinking about it for days – I didn't want to think it was someone we're close to, but it has to be, doesn't it? Someone in the inner circle. Someone beyond suspicion.”

Wait, what are you –

“I just wonder if Sirius really trusts any of us these days. But I'm sure he wouldn't betray us.”

*
ii.

We have to move again.

“What, again? You mean You-Know-Who almost found you? We've got to do something.”

Dumbledore's got this idea – there's a charm that'd hide us forever, if it had to – it's called the Fidelius Charm.

“I don't think I've ever heard of that – how does it work?”

It's complicated - I don't think you'd get it. But someone keeps the secret, and we'll be safe for as long as the Secret Keeper doesn't tell.

“I – that's amazing. And you'd be completely hidden?”

Lily could be playing with Harry in the garden and he'd never see them. Dumbledore wants to be the Secret Keeper.

“I suppose using Dumbledore makes sense. But – you and Pads and me, we fooled Dumbledore for three years at Hogwarts. He still hasn’t caught on that we’re Animagi, has he? I'm not suggesting anything, but maybe he's not the best choice?”

*
iii.

What do you mean?

“Well, it’s really about outsmarting everyone, isn't it, Padfoot? Dumbledore's the most obvious choice. Not that the Death Eaters could ever get to him, but wouldn't it be even better if we … misdirected them?”

You know, I was saying the same thing to Prongs the other day. I think I ought to be the Secret Keeper – it's kind of obvious, but so's Dumbledore, and he knows I'd never tell.

“You're right. It's a perfect plan! Unless you think we should put another kink in it …”

You mean a different Secret Keeper? Yeah, I'd be a pretty good decoy.

“That might make it too complicated, though. You know.”

A long retort to terri_testing

2009-05-06T16:10:07Z

Starting off with a related fic ... Eminence Grise/The Grey Rat

It's really too bad that nobody commented on this fic, as it's an interesting take, considering that Terri's usual one is that James and Sirius thought that hiding from Voldemort was a game. Setting aside the fact that it took me three reads to get that it's all Peter's voice, I would say that the main problem is that while it loses the "reckless and stupid" vibe, Terri can't help but replace it with the equally flat "foolish and easily manipulated" one.

James the Bully

The main problem here is that Terri is trying to defend a view that can only be seen by intentionally exaggerating and minimizing textual evidence while simultaneously ignoring the intent that comes through in the text. The conclusion of the essay is that each time we see James Potter in canon, he is paralleling the actions of a bully elsewhere in canon (and is therefore a bully), and that neither JKR nor the vast majority of fans see this.

1. James says, “Who’d want to be in Slytherin?” Like Draco Malfoy says about Hufflepuff.

Not wanting to be in a particular House is hardly limited to Draco. Neville is afraid of being Sorted there, and Hagrid calls them a load of duffers - and these are not "bad" characters.

2. James is obsessed by Lily Evans, who rejects him. Like Severus, acto Jo a bully.

(If someone could remind me of what "acto" means, I would be very happy. "According to", was it?) Yes, this reading is possible - if you reduce all details to the most basic. If you actually look at the real details: James openly is attracted to Lily and asks her out, Snape hides his attraction in order to be near her without being rejected; James and his friends hex other students, annoying Lily, Snape and his friends curse other students, disgusting Lily; James stops hexing other students and Lily accepts him, Snape continues hanging out with Death Eaters and Lily rejects him. The basic similarity is purposeful, highlighting the differences in the characters.

3. James attacks an individual while backed by a gang of three, the most sycophantic of whom is a rat-faced boy named Peter (Piers…) P. One of his cohorts holds the victim immobile while James presses the attack. Like Dudley Dursley.

First of all, the entire point of "Snape's Worst Memory" is that it makes Harry see James as a bully, as less than a perfect shining hero. He's supposed to look bad. You don't get points for pointing out how he's acting like Dudley. Second, the big difference between the two examples is that Snape is just as powerful as the Marauders when he has his wand, while Harry was totally outclassed in terms of physical strength. Snape also has no compunction about kicking the sorts of spells in play up a notch, which gives him a distinct advantage.

(Incidentally, on the truly horrific instance of Lily's mouth twitching for a half-second at Snape being held upside down that proves she's a shameless gold-digger - how much do you want to bet that that's not unrelated to her knowing that Snape had invented the spell?)

4. James uses Levicorpus to hurt and humiliate someone. Like the Death Eaters do at the Quidditch World cup.

Again, James is obviously supposed to look bad here. While that doesn't excuse him, it does mean that you don't get points for noticing it. And again, the difference is that Snape has the ability to retaliate and had the ability to defend himself at first and invented the spell; the Roberts (?) family had no clue about what was going on and no way of defending themselves. And what does it say about someone who invents a spell that we've only seen used to "hurt and humiliate" people?

5. And James as a father, presented at his most sympathetic (from the unsympathizing perspective of Tom Riddle) … is shown indulging his son, and trying, unarmed and unsuccessfully, to protect his wife and son from someone armed with magic he can’t possibly combat. Like Vernon Dursley confronting Hagrid.

Hagrid came in with no intentions to hurt anyone. Voldemort wanted to kill all three Potters in cold blood. The Dursleys give their son whatever he wants until he's a fat, spoiled bully. James makes smoke come out of his wand so a baby can grab at it. There is simply no comparison.

6. Then there’s one more parallel. James is described to us as a dark-haired, charming boy, “exceptionally bright”, attractive to both his contemporaries and his teachers, regarded with distrust by his Transfiguration teacher but generally receiving such acclaim he makes Head Boy. After years of his gang’s terrorizing other students, and after successfully covering up at least one overt crime he’s involved in—releasing a Dark creature on unsuspecting potential victims. And the headmaster never suspects him.

Like Tom Riddle.

As lakme pointed out, Riddle didn't get into trouble. And McGonagall never worried that James was severely disturbed, the way Dumbledore watched Riddle. This is reaching so far that it's going to fall out of the window.

The problem is that Terri is unable to detach herself from the text. There is nothing wrong with the fact that people's individual experiences inform the way they react to a story - it's natural. But if one is going to analyze a text, one has to acknowledge and go beyond these initial reactions in order to produce a more than superficial analysis. Terri brings up the fact that her father killed himself when she was eleven, and then uses the way her community responded to prove that James wasn't actually a good man - since many people complimented her father and few people talked to Harry about James, this means ... well, this actually means precisely nothing. Aside from the fact that she's comparing two isolated incidents with no evidence that hers is the norm, these two incidents are not really comparable. She was eleven when her father died, and people spoke to her a year later; Harry was a baby and didn't see anyone until years later, when it was considered history by the general public. She lived in a small town (actually twice as big as the town I grew up in); Harry's world is possibly as small but is widely dispersed. There's no comparison, not to even bring in the fact that some people did talk to Harry about his parents - the Dursleys, who lied about them.

As for Severus—for two years Snape DIDN’T throw the despised James in Harry’s face, whatever he might have felt. The first time Snape mentioned James to Harry was when Severus caught Harry returning from a forbidden, hazardous excursion (which the boy had indulged in only for his own entertainment), lying about it, and reveling in having frightened and assaulted a fellow student.

The other problem is the over-the-top interpretations. It does not make Snape angelic or even anything more than "rational" to have not confronted a child with his issues with James Potter. The rest of this quote is simply unfathomable. The first two examples are exaggerated by the choice of phrasing ("lying about it" makes it sound as though he did it for kicks instead of to protect himself against a teacher with a grudge, etc.), but the last is just ridiculous. Assault? Throwing mud is assault?

There is a clear motive for essays like Terri's, which is exemplified best with: Hoo boy. Does JKR have ANY idea what she wrote? In writing such meta, the author can proclaim their superiority to the creator and get agreement.

The Children of Privilege

On the one hand, I'm tempted to let the vast amounts of personal evidence ("I usually think—a lot—about things before I do them ...") slide because what she's doing is explaining why she feels a certain way about the characters, and not attacking them; on the other, it still comes off as though she's condemning them, and I don't believe that it's unintentional. Also, I don't believe most of it.

As Lupin apparently was in retrospect. I would have felt, each time afterwards that I let out the wolf, that I was playing Russian roulette—at best, one round closer to an inevitable disaster. Keep playing long enough, and disaster WILL occur.

Perhaps it's just my own personality, but I have a hard time believing that anyone would feel that way. Each time you distracted the wolf or otherwise saved the possible victim, it would be proof that you were clever or strong enough and that the wolf was weak or stupid enough. How could it be anything else? It has nothing to do with privilege.

And with a mother like Walburga Black, I have a hard time believing that Sirius "spent his childhood being sheltered from the consequences of mistakes he made." His childhood was screwed up enough to have him choose to be in Gryffindor. I would not be surprised if there were reasonably serious physical abuse involved - for one thing, physical injury is a much lesser deal in the Potterverse than in our world.

As I pointed out in another post, it’s actually worse from the point of the view of the victim to be tortured by a common household spell than by the Dark Arts: if one is to suffer torture flashbacks, which is worse: having the trigger being someone yelling “Crucio” or someone saying “Scourgify”? [...] But Sirius (and James) really seem to think that THEY’RE not using Dark Magic, they’re not INTENDING evil, therefore it’s impossible that evil results will occur.

This is rather a nitpick in the scheme of things, but it's this sort of thing that really detracts from the essay. Cleaning out Snape's mouth with soap is jerkish and nasty - but it used to be a common punishment for swearing. The practice is awful, but does that make it torture? No, not really, and I doubt it would cause flashbacks. I'm not going to speculate on Terri's intent, but comparing the Cruciatus and Scourgify here serves to make a spell of torture (and only torture, one that requires a desire to hurt) seem equivalent to a cleaning charm.

Once again, Terri_Testing displays her inability to distance herself from the text. What it comes down to (aside from wiping off all of Snape's flaws to keep him squeaky-clean) is that her mother was an alcoholic who would mistreat her and then protest that she "didn't mean it" the next morning; her argument is that Sirius and James's intent (their not meaning it) is the same thing. These two things are nothing alike. The defense of Sirius and James does not rest on only their intent mattering, but on the fact that the goodness of their intent must factor in. A drunk person might, say, hit you or call you worthless and then say they didn't mean it the next morning, but what she's comparing that to is someone making a stupid decision from a good motive that turns out badly. What good motive is there in slapping a child? None. What good motive is there in letting a werewolf out to run around in the woods? It makes him feel less like a monster the next morning, and keeps him from tearing himself apart. And yes, it was fun for them as well.

I have just two more quotes to refute.

Even years later, in dragging his feet in taking the Wolfsbane that night, Lupin didn’t mean to almost kill three kids, to allow Pettigrew to go free, and to condemn Sirius to remaining a fugitive; he just wanted to wind Snape up a little.

This line irritates me more than even the claim that Sirius had an idyllic childhood, or the complete dismissal of Sirius's years in Azkaban. (I'm never sure whether I'm more of a Siriuswife or Remuswife.) Remus "forgot to take [his] potion tonight, so [Snape] brought a gobletful along" to his office - this could be read as Remus actually not thinking about it, or (more sense-makingly) as Remus intending to go get the potion, then catching sight of the Map and running off. Why would he try to wind Snape up? That's not even a possibility just going from personality - Remus would have been far more likely to get there early so Snape couldn't complain that he wasn't taking it seriously. It is ridiculous to claim that all of that was Remus's fault - if Snape hadn't held them up and refused to listen, they might have gotten back earlier, before the moon rose. Snape, who intended to give both of them to the Dementors. Unhinged Snape.

I, after watching (and enduring) the damage my alcoholic (but charming and attractive) mother inflicted, find it HARDER to forgive someone who “meant no harm”—but did it, repeatedly, anyhow, and used the pristine innocence of their intentions to insist they should be let off the hook to do harm AGAIN—than to forgive someone who DID mean harm, but who subsequently repented and tried their hardest to make amends.

This does make me feel sorry for her, but it's nevertheless wrong at bottom. I discussed the difference in motive above; it's the last bit that gets to me now. Snape meant harm, repented partially for selfish reasons, and continued to mean harm. He did attempt to make amends, but mostly for those selfish reasons. It's good of him, but not better.

Lol latest

2009-04-11T23:44:20Z

Oh, I should not have gone into the comments on the latest Fandom Secrets post. I just get so annoyed over the SPN dogpiles. The ones who are just trolling would stop if they didn't get so much attention, and it just comes across as whiny and defensive on the others - seriously, you can't handle them? They're Secrets. Also, I finally went back to FFR and I know I'm going to end up in arguments there. In some ways, though, it's very freeing to not be memeing or on F_W and to be able to respond there and tell the person that their behavior is crap, y'know?

I was reading Reinventing Comics, which is pretty good even if I think McCloud was a bit crazy with his expectations for webcomics. I got to the section on comics needing more diversity of subject matter and writers, and the natural leap to RaceFail occurred. Obviously there are some serious problems with some writers, but isn't the real problem the publishers who aren't accepting enough non-white non-males? I wish there were some way the internet could band together and fight the power there. And the World will hear what we got to say! We've been hawkin' headlines but we're making 'em today!

Yeah.

2009-03-29T02:23:04Z

I just said the word "testicles" to my grandmother.

So I'm having a think

2009-03-23T14:30:41Z

You know how there are people who claim that the male characters in X series are more interestingly written than the females? I'm wondering how much of that is internalized misogyny, and how much is straight female fans with crushes. Because I'd say that at least 75% of the time, my favorite character(s) in a given canon are male, and I know a good portion of it is fictional crushdom - but I know it's that, so I don't bring up ridiculous "the women are written poorly!" rubbish to justify why I'm more interested in (eg) Chase than Cameron.

It makes even more sense when I consider male fans like Vanceone and Pstibbons who regard a female character as being totally amazing, and the males as poorly written, and seem to have a ~~mad passion~~ crush for said female character.

Nothing new or revolutionary.

Seriously I can't think of anything he missed

2009-03-05T20:37:22Z

Oh god, I've found another one of THOSE fics. It hits everything on the checklist.

- Hermione is the only person who sees the hypocrisies and problems of the wizarding world
- All of the dialogue sounds as if it's coming from one person, and that one person speaks extremely formally
- Harry goes to Gringotts and is way richer than he ought to be, with multiple vaults, extensive properties, and loose jewels
- Dumbledore lied about this to Harry
- Harry makes incredibly shrewd decisions about what to do with this wealth
- The goblins are impressed with him
- He may have fixed his eyes
- Harry directs Kreacher and Winky around like he's been commanding servants his whole life
- He realizes that even though he hated it when he was alone with Hermione in DH, he was actually in love with her as well
- They're both contemptuous of Ron
- Ginny and Ron did this secret bonding thing with Harry and Hermione in order to serve their selfish desires ...
- ... but it actually just means that Hermione can choose whoever she wants, while Ginny must be Harry's concubine
- ... and Harry can have a harem
- Dumbledore was actually behind this
- Harry is described as the head of his family
- Harry is a mouthpiece for the author to say things like, "The British Isles are not the entire world"
- Luna is not in character at all
- There is oddly frank talk about sex
- Harry is actually "Lord Potter"
- Harry and Hermione go into negotiations with the new Ministry
- The wizarding world is even more shockingly misogynist, racist, and brutal than you would have imagined from the books
- Harry makes Ginny strip in front of her family

OH GOD HE EVEN MAKES IT END WITH THE WORD "SCAR"

esclaramonde @ 2009-02-26T14:40:00

2009-02-26T19:42:37Z

The trouble with reading Passive-Aggressive Notes is that I always want to know what happened next. Did Shelby ever find out who took her expensive mustard? Will people stop using that bathroom?

It's like a soap opera that you only get to see thirty second of. :(

She says she even likes some of the Weasleys

2009-02-22T23:49:48Z

http://community.livejournal.com/potter_cliche/39395.html#cutid1

Easily one of the most bizarre things I've seen online recently. At the time, I think I was amused because it's Ataniell complaining about R/Hr, but in retrospect it's so amazingly calm and non-hateful.

esclaramonde @ 2009-02-22T14:24:00

2009-02-22T19:35:07Z

I would rather read fifty essays about Snape and why he's wonderful than one of these aesthetics articles. Why is it necessary to say "inter alia" instead of "among others"? Oh wait, the first one was about the pleasures of erudition, carry on.

JFC

2009-02-20T22:52:00Z

I just want to give her the benefit of the doubt. I don't think she went out of her way to be offensive. I just think that she's not a very intelligent woman - clever with words and delightful with her imagination but not someone who really delves below the surface, not in her thoughts and certainly not in her stories.

-- lil_itu, here (emphasis mine)

That's so incredibly offensive. I hate it when they do that so fucking much, and I've seen it too many times.

And in another comment,

She was depending on people like you who would never think to question the text.

What an asshat. She's now on my list of people whose every comment will earn a beady eye from me. (Even though she apologizes in her next comment.)

If it were not a completely boring and pointless task, I would reread the entire series and make note of every character's birth and alliances or what have you, just so I could write a pretentious essay about people being WRONG on the internet.

... Holy crap.

Tell me now so I don't waste my time. (BTW, I was having quite an intelligent conversation with thinkatory and I don't appreciate it being de-railed.)

Are you one of those JKRowling diehard fans who believe that everything she wrote is Gospel perfect and beyond reproach? Because either you're that and you are totally, completely deliberately missing the point (you're missing the point so wide, you're aiming in the opposite direction), or you have some form of reading comprehension issues. (some formatting removed cos I'm not putting it back in.)

Oh, I've got to make an LJ post containing this brand of special in it.

It's so wrong

2009-02-17T02:42:31Z

Dante Basco: playing a comic book nerd in a tax commercial. How you have fallen. :C

FALSEFAX

2009-01-19T21:16:28Z

This is bitchy and about a fairly old post, but.

No one gets period better than Georgette Heyer. Whether she is writing about England in the Regency era or the 15th Century, she has the details and the language perfectly.

No, no, she does not.

Incidentally, and don't worry, I won't hate you, how many people like Heyer, dislike Heyer, have never heard of Heyer, don't read historical romances ...? I just wonder, given the amount that I sometimes grouse about Heyer/romances in general.

Ice

2009-01-09T15:47:17Z

I'm watching Mighty Ducks for the first time ever, and I want to go skating. :( I wish the skating rink in my town weren't so sucky - it's in a field next to the school that's used for kickball during the rest of the year, and it's not really even and you get this brown, organic ice in bubbly patches. They paved the back section of it with tarmac, so it's smoother ice but also (and this will surprise you) melts all over the place when it's plowed. The plowing, by the way, also craps up the ice. It's a compound of fail.

I don't know where they are. :(

2008-09-03T00:59:26Z

http://www.abominable.cc/2007/12/05/24/

I don't know what this is, but I feel like I might cry.

Also: I think I may love Candice Hern, and I haven't even read any of her books. A lot of what we assume to be Regency etiquette comes from Georgette Heyer books, and she was a true snob and the books reflect more of her attitudes than the Regency's.