Wiscon curiosity and feminism...

[fajrdrako]

I was taking a peek at a site talking about Wiscon, out of curiosity. This caught my eye:

I was made incandescent with rage over academic elitism and incited to reactionary judgments by a panelist’s subjective experiences with Tolkien.

Tolkien, pro or con - always a nice topic for a controversy!

Also intriguing:

Today I attended my favorite panel so far. The discussion on hard sci-fi and on why lists of hard SF authors rarely include women was absolutely riveting, with brilliant panelists and an engaged crowd.

Okay, that sounds worth hearing - but what did they say?

Reminds me of something I was listening to on CBC radio a couple of days ago: an interview with women in Hollywood about why women make up only 16% of those in the film industry and only 26% in the television industry - and want to bet that's concentrated somewhat on daytime and 'women's' shows? The main topic was how all the big blockbuster movies (except Sex and the City) are made for boys and men - which I don't think is entirely true, I would have said the Indiana Jones was on the gender-neutral side, on the whole. But... that might reflect the circles I move in.

The movies I want to see just don't get made. I'm not holding my breath.

Comments

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Read it here!
http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/

Izumi and Gen. Armstrong don't show up for a little while, though. But Ed is Miles-esque in certain ways ...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I read the first issue - very interesting. Thanks so much for the link!

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Well, go read the second, then! It starts out pretty good, but oh how it builds!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying it... finished chapter 2 before physio this morning. Yes, it's getting better all the time as we learn what's going on.

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Yay, you're hooked! *restrains self from babbling before you've read any more*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yay, you're hooked!

I'm easy.

I like it a lot. The brothers seem just the kind of dark/decicated characters I like. And they have superpowers. And good dialogue. And there are places where I loved the art so much I stopped and saved it.

I'm going to read more after my next set of Foot exercises.

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Dark, but not wangsty. And some of Ed's expressions of anguish are quite simply beautiful. *Cool* superpowers, and there aren't any of those fights where the protagonists are so powered-up that it becomes almost meaningless, there's always plenty of clever tactics, sometimes involving common sense chemistry. This manga makes me wish I knew Japanese in a way which other manga/anime don't (in the Black Lagoon anime, frex, I think the voice acting does a lot of work, in particular getting across Revy's bad attitude and pugnacity, heh).

Keep talking! I've been rereading lately, and it's good to reread and talk about as I read : )

(I rewatched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang recently; lordie, that was a good episode. I think I'll catch up with Torchwood soon. I'll use it to break up BSG, which is a lot darker.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Dark, but not wangsty.

Yes - if the tone of what I've read so far is the same as it continues, it has just the right touch. I like the tactics and the way the characters trick each other and think things through - and again, moments where they just attack on impulse or passion.

Yes, I'll say more! But I haven't done those pesky Foot exercises yet...!

I love "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang", for many reasons. I was thinking the other day about something you said about Captain Jack as being an alpha male testosterone type, since I see him quite different - more of a sweet, rather sentimental gay boy trying to fit his own image as a soldier in order to improve the world in the Doctor's image. He can do macho, but I see it as a bit of an effort for him - like the time he asks Ianto if he managed to be scary and Ianto says he had chills down his back. (Note: Ianto may not be an unbiased observer.)

Yes, I love Battlestar Galactica but it gets so dark and heavy I sometimes feel I need a dose of laughing gas afterwards.