Sidetracks - May 19, 2014

[helloladies]

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.

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➝ This week I added The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert, On such a full sea by Chang-rae Lee, and The Three by Sarah Lotz to the ever-growing TBR list.

➝ There's the meme going around where everyone lists their top ten most crucial films to their development (or something, I've forgotten the details and now can't find an example). It's fascinating, because if we all did it together again in a year and then compared the lists they'd be super different. ANA AND JODIE, come do this with me. *sparkles* Ana, if necessary you and can make an anti-crucial list. Every film can be (500) Days of Summer.

• Spirited Away
• Dogma
• The Mummy
• The Fifth Element
• Lost in Space
• Mean Girls
• The Mighty Ducks
• Penelope
• Hook
• Legally Blonde

➝ An important note for Hugo voting — discusses how to use No Award, which often confuses me if I start thinking about it too hard.

➝ Ana and Thea from The Book Smugglers are getting into publishing! This is very exciting! :D

➝ Clare reviews The Scorpio Races, as Jodie, Ana, and I continue our campaign to make everyone read this book, cutting a swath of emotional destruction over magical horses across the book blogging landscape.

➝ On 'The John Green Effect,' Contemporary Realism, and Form as a Political Act by anneursu has gone around, but it's so brilliant that linking it again can't hurt.

➝ Max Gladstone wrote an awesome essay about Captain America, Captain America and Commodity Fetishism in the MCU. I'll be honest, I almost didn't read it because the title is a little impenetrable, but it was worth it in the end. Also, comments are good!

➝ 'These Broken Stars' Heads to Television. I am at once intrigued but also a little dubious; it's not a long book, so the choice for television format is weird. Maybe in a short season, like eight to thirteen episodes? I hope they don't plan to stretch the book out over multiple seasons.

➝ Here is my favorite review of Cold Magic by Kate Elliott. IT IS MY FAVORITE. It is the sun and the moon and shows appropriate reverence to the SENTIENT DINOSAURS contained within this volume of fantasy adventure. Everyone should read it, and then teleport (don't run) to your nearest bookstore to get the book (or the whole trilogy; it's your choice but if you don't get the whole trilogy that's the wrong decision). This has been your aggressive book recommendation for this week. Please stay tuned for my upcoming co-review of Cold Steel with owlmoose which is basically 100% me writing fanfic and calling it a review.

➝ THE NEBULAS. Everyone's heard by now but I am still super stoked! I managed to not lose it when I posted to tumblr about it. Sort of. Well, I refrained from 10+ gratuitous gifs. That's something.

➝ Submissions are WIDE OPEN for Speculative Fiction 2014, which I posted about last week. I'M REALLY EXCITED and hope everyone else is, too. SUBMIT EVERYTHING, or else this anthology is going to end up being Hugo wank, very serious analysis/academic work (Shaun, who is a professional, unlike me), six essays about Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with everything else a mix of Orphan Black meta and articles about the downfall of civilization, a.k.a. all my favorite terrible genre shows like SPN/Teen Wolf.

➝ Cover reveal for The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley. VERY EXCITED. PRE-ORDER PLACED.

➝ ABC renews 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' and orders 'Agent Carter' from Marvel: SCREAMS AUDIBLE TO ANIMALS ONLY.

➝ All 200 Uncut Episodes of Sailor Moon Are Coming To DVD, Blu-Ray, And Hulu. THIS HAS BEGUN AS OF TODAY. *FANGIRL EXPLOSION*

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This week, as the European elections get closer, I will be mostly pointing out what wankers UKip are.

➝ Activist visited by the police after tweeting about Ukip. Receives text which implies Ukip councillor may have sent them. This would explain why the police visited him even though his account of their visit makes it sound like the police didn't really know why they'd come.

➝ Laurie Penny says "Ukip understands people will always want someone to blame". She also has some pretty choice things to say about the party's leader Nigel Farage:

Farage comes across as a friendly spiv; in fact, he is is a thug. He is leading the sort of party that has no qualms about exploiting racial prejudice and hatred of foreigners in order to strengthen its base. Ukip is the sort of party that speaks for the people only in the sense that it taps into the cramped and ugly part of the collective psyche that would stamp on the other chap for a chance at revenge. Ukip is the sort of party that supports the interests of business whil speaking the language of socialism. Ukip is the sort of party that has to declare in its strapline that it is not racist, which makes it about as not racist as anyone’s racist uncle. Ukip gets away with all of this and more because it is the only vehicle representing public rage and contempt for the what Farage calls “career politicians and their friends in business”, as if he is not one of them.

➝ Her comments about Farage's friendly persona reminded me a lot of Eve's Alexandria's post about "Women, Books and Boris".

➝ The Guardian says everyone voting for UKip isn't a racist and it's counter productive to say so. I get this article's argument; don't lose your faith in people, such a large majority can't be dismissed as racist, UKip supporters have legitimate fears that lead them to vote this way, don't push people further towards UKip with your anger. I get it, I just don't agree.

I think this article bases its argument around a definition of racism that casts racists as inhuman exceptions when racism is a much deeper, pervasive structural problem. And, yes, people have fears that lead them to vote for UKip, and fear is irrational but it still seems worth saying that those fears aren't at all born out by evidence. We can't give people pass on voting for racist nationalists just because they're scared when that fear isn't based on rationality and truth.

I'm tired of being told I can't be angry at people because it pushes them further away from my cause. I am angry all the time. I'll stand and admit to my mistakes, but I'm tired of showing my anger and being blamed for other people's fuckwittery.

By the way, just my experience, but I have stood and listened to people who are voting for UKip talk about Europe. They all end up talking about race even though the issue of European immigration to the UK largely has little to do with race. They all say a fuck ton of racist things. So there's that.

➝ And just a reminder that 'latest research supports most existing evidence suggesting that the net contribution of recent migrants, and particularly EEA migrants, to Britain's public finances is positive.'

➝ If you're feeling kind of down about the swell of UKip support then I recommend watching "The is a War Going on for Your Mind, Sarah" and blasting the song as loud as possible. 'If you are thinking, you are winning.'