I wish I were on my way to Wiscon right now...

On the plus side, it's cherry season! I will console myself with non-Madison produce.

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It took me about three tries to finally watch this past the point Thor starts to realize he might be stuck on Earth.

( Spoilers for Thor and Avengers )

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CB marathoned S3 of Avatar over the weekend, and I realized I had never written up the final bits!

( Spoilers )

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I rewatched this to try and catch more bits of Black Widow characterization, and wow, now I remember why I was so very hesitant when going in to watch Captain America last year.

So yeah. Despite overflow happy hearts from The Avengers, still hate Tony and Iron Man here, am appalled by how he treats Pepper, hate the objectification of all the women, really hate how Tony's statement about solving world peace in the very beginning is never really dissected, and overall am left with very bad taste in my mouth.

ETA: ( Further notes, with spoilers for both movies )

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Possibly I watched Avengers again yesterday! The action scenes are much less thrilling the second time around, but I had a lot of fun looking more closely at the characters.

( Not plot spoiler, but just in case )

Anyone have good gen team recs? I really want ones that are post-movie and explore the movie dynamics. Doesn't have to be the whole team, but I basically want stuff in which the friendships or alliances or teambonding is focused on more than romance and/or sex.

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I think I've seen a Black Widow prequel movie confirmed in one place, but I don't know how official that is?

Spoilers for the comics (I think... at least what I could figure out via Wiki) and for the movie.

( My ideal movie )

Oh Hollywood. Make more things for me, please?

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( Extremely scattered thoughts )

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I only have one residential floor left, and then I am finally done with Tiny Tower!

... now I have to figure out what to do during the commute.

I have also signed up for QZone (me!), one of the biggest social networking sites in China. I have done this despite being able to read much less simplified Chinese than I thought because Sims has launched on it and I am a sad, sad addict who wants to see if there are any different clothes/furniture/hair/missions/whatever.

Most of the game is the same, except you can't post to your feed to request things a la Facebook, so everything is based on in-game requests. Most of the assets are the same as well, except for maybe 5-10 new items in hair, clothes, furniture, respectively. On the other hand, the new hair and new clothes are SO MUCH CUTER. And Bella has been replaced by a much more anime-looking character called Rongrong.

( Screencaps )

And OMG so many big things happening in Glitch! (Me!) ( Read more... )

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I think the rats are now used to the new place and their new play area now. This is good, as it means they have now resumed their prior litter training. Actually, I am fairly certain they never forgot and Momo would just poop wherever because he was annoyed at the change of scenery.

Haru's exploratory adventures continue! I accidentally left the cage door open one night, which I discovered when I saw Haru running across the living room. Thankfully, they are big and fat enough now that they are fairly easy to chase down.

After I scooped up Haru, I noticed that contrary to my expectations, Momo was not lounging about in the cage and ignoring the opportunities of an opened cage door.

In fact, he was a few feet away from the cage, but when I tried to grab him, he completely freaked out. He tries to avoid me normally, but this time he was just running around in sheer panic. Sadly, he eventually dashed back to the cage, except I don't think he quite realized the door was closed. So he kept bouncing around the cage door in the hopes of making it back and leaving behind the terrifying, terrifying open space of the bedroom, and my getting closer to open the door just freaked him out more.

My current theory is that he took advantage of the open door but then was so frightened that he couldn't venture out in those few feet to make it back to safety. Poor the Momo.

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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I don't know how iTunes works internationally, but FYI, the first two episodes of Korra are available on HD for free there.

According to Wikipedia, The Legend of Korra is a two-season miniseries of about 20+ episodes that takes place roughly two generations after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Korra, the new Avatar, goes to Republic City to complete her bending training and plot happens that relates to the growing anti-bending movement in the world.

First, the production values are amazing. It looks like anime-movie-quality animation! The backgrounds are gorgeous, the music is fun and funky, and oh people, the art! I think I could just sit and watch the background scenes and take pleasure in the world-building details. I have been very fannishly out of it, so my Korra excitement was fairly low key, but now it has hit the "OMG WHY IS THERE NOT MORE STUFF LIKE THIS" button that JoSelle Vanderhooft's lesbian steampunk anthologies have. Entire worlds! Populated by POC! With non-Western backdrops! It feels like there is a hole in my heart that is slowly being patched up, when I hadn't even realized it was an empty space.

Second, I love that this is clearly aimed at an older demographic than AtLA. Korra is a teenager who has already been training for a while, and just in these first two episodes, the moral issues are more complicated and nuanced. And although the scope of the plot is smaller, since this so far is not a Heroic Quest narrative, the entire world feels so much larger because we're getting much more time to explore the setting. Korra feels like there is a lot going on off screen in a way that AtLA didn't always, and I love the sense of depth and immersion.

Third, I am SO EXCITED to have a heroine on screen who looks like Korra. She's a fighter, and she looks it. I love how the artists emphasize her arms and her shoulder blades, I love that they are not pandering to the male gaze at all, I love the focus on how her body works, not how it looks. This is particularly nice as a contrast to the Black Widow/Hawkeye Avengers poster I keep seeing on buses, in which Hawkeye is aiming at something off-screen and Black Widow is standing there, looking down demurely.

( Spoilers are so excited! )

In conclusion: some minor quibbles and qualms, but overall, I am really excited about the potential this shows. The writing is excellent, the worldbuilding is so wonderfully expansive, and it looks like it is addressing so many things from AtLA that I wanted to see more of. I... do not think I have been this excited about a show from the start for a really long time (SCC took a few eps to warm up to).

OMG SO COOL!

(And since I am late watching this, any and all links to commentary and/or squee highly appreciated!)

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Third book of the Inheritance Trilogy (Book 1 (no spoilers), Book 2 (spoilers))

Disclaimer: I know and like the author. Also, this write up is even more outside the norm in that I read a draft for the book in 2010.

The back cover copy says that this book is about Shahar, the current heir to the Arameri throne, but it really is about Sieh and his godling-ness. I knew this going in, given the draft I had read, but I'm still a bit disappointed, since I would very much like to read the book that the back cover copy describes.

The Kingdom of Gods is largely about wrapping up the fallout that begins with Book 1 of the trilogy, although thankfully, each book can be read by itself. As previously mentioned, it follows Sieh as he adjusts to some odd changes in his situation, starting with his befriending the young Arameri twins Shahar and Deka.

Sieh was one of my favorites from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and although I still like him a great deal, I'm not sure the decision to write the book from Sieh's POV entirely worked for me. You see, Sieh is the god of childhood, so despite his millennia of being and his vast amounts of power, he gains the most power when he is truly embodying the spirit of childhood. Unfortunately, I don't think the narration quite captured that. I very much loved Jemisin's voice in the first book of the trilogy, was a bit meh about it in the second, and I'm a bit meh about it here as well. I think she writes elegant, high fantasy voice extremely well, but I didn't completely buy street-smart Oree or childish Sieh. Sieh's voice in particular feels too deliberate for me; even the bits of childish retorts or brattiness don't read as very spontaneous.

The politics are much more interesting, although I was frustrated at being limited to Sieh's POV. The Arameri hold on the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is falling apart, and although Sieh does have some hand in this, his emotional ties to the situation are fairly weak.

( Spoilers )

Overall, the book combines a mortal political plot with the political plotting of the gods, as do the other two in the trilogy. I still think the first book ties the two strands together best; many of the weaknesses in this book come from both sides of the plot not being developed enough. We don't get enough of one or the other, so although they're both interesting, they feel in need of fleshing out. Still, it's a really interesting trilogy, and I suspect Jemisin will work out balancing different aspects of a novel over time.

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• Sigh, cannot make it to Wiscon after all ;_;. I originally thought I could after getting a refund for taxes, but I just got an invitation to a family friend's wedding on the East Coast. So... there goes that. I am especially sad because I really want to go and support the increased number of anime/manga panels! (And by support, I really mean ramble on about Princess Tutu and Utena...)


• In other news, California seems to be trying to cram three months worth of winter into April. It has been pouring for the past few weeks, and yesterday brought on a lot of thunder and lightning as well. And! I am almost done assembling all the furniture and whatnot for my kitchen, which means I can soon start doing things like stocking up on the fridge and pantry again.


• I have started to read again! This is a relief! Now let's see if I can manage to write something up...


• Also, I caved and am now on Twitter as ActuallyOyceter. Right now it's mostly Echo Bazaar stuff. I think I'm also oyceter on Tumblr but I don't post and I haven't checked Tumblr for a year.

Got Wiscon panel assignments and now REALLY want to go again! WARGH. Maybe I will go over budget again to see if I can...

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I read this because despite having been to several weddings, I can still never quite figure out what to do/what you're supposed to do. This is even more confusing now that I am part of sister's wedding party and therefore have things to do that extend beyond the day of the wedding.

This book was written with the notion that today's weddings have now become massive, expensive events in which the bride selfishly makes demands of everyone because it's "her day." I have, as I'm sure some of you expected, some issues with this. Given that this is Miss Manners and not a book on gender roles and social commentary, I'm okay with the fact that she doesn't unpack this more, but I'm also disappointed that it simply goes with this cliched view of weddings and brides. This is not to say that selfish brides don't exist, but I think the narrative of the selfish bride handwaves how much USian society pressures women to view their wedding day as The Biggest Day of Their Entire Life, how so much of the traditional female narrative is being male person's noun (brother's sister, father's daughter, son's mother, etc.) and this is still within that frame but at least focuses on the woman, how there is so much pressure for the bride to plan the whole damn thing herself with the groom supposedly not having any input or help, and etc. So yes, selfish brides exist, but on the other hand, condemning them for selfishness while ignoring all these other factors annoys me.

Also, as you have probably noticed, I keep using the terms "bride" and "groom." This is because although the book acknowledges same-sex marriages, it's very much written with heterosexual pairs in mind. Miss Manners is supportive of same-sex marriages, but the way the book is written, it's very..."things don't exist unless readers bring them up." There's a very standard narrative in place, and the book does not break out of it unless prodded to do so. This was an excellent example for me of authors who probably want to be inclusive but are unintentionally exclusive because they don't think outside the norm.

For example, I kept reading advice on how good brides who are not selfish will take their parents into account and such. Which, yes, great if you have a good relationship with your parents. Not so great otherwise. It's also very whitebread American culture, despite Miss Manners' acknowledgement of other cultural traditions.

I was particularly irked by her annoyance at people who solicit funds and money at bridal showers and weddings and etc. One reader made a point that sometimes it is cultural, but the only response was that if the bride's mother was writing to Miss Manners about it, obviously it wasn't cultural enough. And I am all for her aghastness at people's behavior, except in variations of my culture, you give money at weddings. And when you have weddings that include both the older generation and a younger, more Americanized generation, I don't actually think it's rude or whatnot to talk about present giving, because people are confused!

But this may just be me, and after all, this is why I picked up the book in the first place.

Other than that, it is a perfectly nice book, but it is a much more interesting read as a sociological artifact of a particular time and culture. And its presentation of itself as "etiquette" makes it even more jarring to read than historical fiction would be.

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( Spoilers don't believe in true love )

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Listened to a cool podcast from 99% Invisible yesterday on designing architecture for Deaf people (link has audio podcast and transcript) that I really liked. Unsurprisingly, one of the conclusions is that when you design for accessibility, people who don't necessarily have disabilities can and often do benefit as well. (I hate the argument that if you design for accessibility or such, it hurts everyone else! Bah.)

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( 1x14 Dreamy )

( 1x15 Red-Handed )

( 1x16 Heart of Darkness )

( 1x17 Hat Trick )

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Er, would anyone be willing to take up organizing a POC meetup for Fogcon? I have prior poll on various preferences, but non-fannish life has taken over, and I don't think I'll even make the con on Friday, much less be able to organize stuff...

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Eeeeeeeee, cannot wait! Especially since I have been loving the sample furniture—I especially love that the Glitch yeti chair is actually based on a modern furniture classic!

I am glad Sims Social has added a Career option, though annoyed at the waiting times, but really, I am in it for the interior decoration. I chose the Celebrity Chef career just so I could get more virtual kitchen gadgets.

Also, I've been playing Echo Bazaar (now Fallen London?) for a while, but mostly as a "I am bored and must click compulsively on something" distraction. But now that my numbers are finally in the above-60s, the storylines have actually been getting more interesting! With some world-building revelations! (Sorrow spiders, EW!) My favorite so far has been the Cheesemonger arc.

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I've read books one and two and been thoroughly spoiled for three. I enjoyed the first book but didn't think it was the Best Thing Ever, and I was rather disappointed in book two.

I think I probably liked the movie better than I liked book one, largely because the worldbuilding of the book is a bit skimpy for text format, but makes for excellent visuals. Also, I really don't remember many of the details in book one, since I read it about three years ago and never reread. The movie had many of the same major flaws the book (the race stuff, my generally wanting it to be more about revolution and less about the Games), with a few of its own added in, and one major point of awesomeness that made me really love it.

( Assorted unspoilery thoughts )

( Assorted spoilery thoughts )

Mostly, though, Katniss made the movie for me.

Links (assume spoilers for first book/movie!):
- my review of Hunger Games the book and Catching Fire (spoilers for book 2 as well)
- sanguinity's review
- diceytillerman's review
- grrlpup's review

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