Sidetracks - July 1, 2012
Jul. 1st, 2012 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ladybusinessSidetracks 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.
➝ Super neat 3D Mario art:
➝ Flavorwire posts The Greatest Female Sci-Fi/Fantasy Authors of All Time. The comments sum up many of my thoughts, and in some cases I haven't even read the authors. >.>
➝ Well, I watched Brave. No spoilers here, but I was both overjoyed and disappointed. I haven't been able to articulate why, since I found the mother-daughter story at the center of the story heartbreaking and lovely. Perhaps we were hoping for too much from Pixar, this first time out. Pixar, Brave, and Merida’s Load to Bear (definite spoilers) does a really great job of getting to the root of my issues with the movie. One quote stood out to me:
The unfortunate truth is that Pixar has its transcendent movies (the Toy Story sequels, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, etc.) and its serviceable ones (A Bug’s Life, Cars, Ratatouille), and Brave falls into the latter category.
I really agree this is the case. It felt like in a lot of respects, Pixar played it safe, and still didn't quite emerge from that path unscathed. I did want to love Brave. I loved Merida, definitely, her relationship with her mother, for sure, but Brave as a whole — no, I did not. The more I reflected the more disappointed I felt as a long time Pixar fan, especially one who has excused their lack of female leads over the years.
➝ The Racialicious post Sorry But Criticizing A TV Show For Its Lack Of Diversity Does Not Equal 'Woman Hate' reminded me of the conversation Jodie started here on Sidetracks a few weeks ago.
➝ For Iris: Graham Joyce lists his top ten fairy tale fictions.
➝ There's a link roundup of a discussion of race in romance that has been taking place at multiple blogs over at Read React Review. I haven't read all the posts yet, but lots of food for thought there.
➝ Who Needs Feminism is a tumblr devoted to explainations of why feminism is still so relevant. So many great submissions so far.
➝ This two part Boston Review interview with Junot Díaz is probably one of the most interesting author interviews I've ever read. The way he talks reminded me a little of China Miéville, which can only be a good thing.
➝ "I'm not like the other girls" — a great post on the Excepto Girl phenomenon Jodie identified a few years back:
What I'm trying to say is, there are as many ways to be “girly” as there are girls in this world. There are always going to be people out there telling you that if you like things pop culture tells you are girly, you're stupid, and that if you claim to like things pop culture tells you are guy stuff, you're lying. And what I'm saying is that all these people are full of crap.
➝ Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good list their top albums of the year so far and prove once again that they're by brain twin music blog (except that Sharon Van Etten would get much more than an honourable mention from me).
➝ Speaking of music, New Joanna Newsom song!
➝ A new UK-based award for comics, The British Comics Award, has jus been announced. Hooray for discovering new notable comics and graphic novels (and hopefully some of the winners will be by women).
➝ On Brave and Paradigm-Enforcing Women:
Vilifying women for not wishing for the girls and women in their lives to come to harm is about as helpful as chastising a parent in a small town for being worried about their child's un-closeting: it doesn't change the fact that the parent's pragmatism is, unfortunately enough, the safer option. Thankfully, social norms can and do change as a result of the actions of violators. Working towards that end is far more productive than calling out those who play the system because they have to. To re-purpose a phrase I've only heard used in a pretty misogynistic fashion, hate the game, not the player.
➝ And finally, here's a detailed piece by journalist Jon Ronson on income inequality in America that I think some of you will be interested in.
➝ Aidan Moher's blog 'A Dribble of Ink' has a post by Kameron Hurley, author of 'God's War', called 'Publishing Isn't a Meritocracy it's a Casino'. Hurley explains how she built her book's profile and reminds us that publishing is as much about visibility and marketing, as it is about creating the best book you can.
I know that publishing is a business and I know that business success isn't all about having the very best crafted product. Weirdly though those two ideas just don't connect in my head sometimes and I seem to subconsciously believe that publishing is the one business where all the best people get what they deserve.
➝ That post led me to Kameron Hurley's blog, which I haven't had a proper chance to investigate yet but there are so many interesting post headings over there. Go, explore. Renay, did you say you were looking for someone to read 'God's War' with? I might be interested...
➝ Foz meadows explains 'Why Spike?' in a post about his character complexity which makes my heart want to escape from my chest. I'm not sure that I agree about Buffy's character (although it's been a long time since I watched all the series), but all her points about Spike feel dead on to me.
ANA, THERE ARE HUGE BUFFY SPOILERS IN THIS POST! Don't read this until you finish watching all the series!!
➝ Let's go look at the Oreo pride cookie again, because it might be a little thing but little things spark hope.
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Date: 2012-07-01 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 12:27 am (UTC)First Jodie needs to respond to my OTHER epic emails and then we can start plotting out a schedule? This book is way too smart for me to tackle it alone.
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Date: 2012-07-04 12:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-04 11:15 pm (UTC)